Life is Beautiful (La Vita e Bella)

Released 1998
Stars Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giustino Durano, Sergio Bini Bustric, Marisa Paredes, Horst Buchholz, Giorgio Cantarini
Directed by Roberto Benigni

Life is Beautiful starts out like a typical Benigni film, with an energetic comedy sequence that features a runaway car and a mistaken identity. For the next forty-five minutes, the production tricks us into believing that it's nothing more than a pleasant-but-uninspired romantic comedy set in Fascist Italy, with Guido (Benigni) seeking to woo a pretty girl, Dora (Nicoletta Braschi, Benigni's real-life spouse), away from her stuffy fiancé. Fifty minutes into Life is Beautiful, there is a transition. It's a subtle moment, but it marks a shift from lightweight comedy to drama. The year is now 1945, and Guido and Dora have a five year-old son, Giosue. The second World War is in its final days, and Jewish Italian families like Guido's are the recipients of nonstop persecution. One day, the police break into Guido's home and take his family into custody. Soon after, they are herded like cattle into a train bound for a nameless concentration camp. It is a place of horror and death, where healthy men and women work all day long melting down metal for weapons while those who are too old, too infirm, or too young to endure hard labor are sent to the showers.

Guido is determined to shield his son from the terrifying reality of the situation. So he carefully concocts a storyteller's web of fantasy around Giosue, informing the boy that this is all part of an elaborate game. The object is to get 1000 points; the winner gets a real tank, not one of the toys Giosue is used to playing with. The rules constantly change, but they usually involve a lot of hide-and-seek, plenty of make-believe, and something called "silence." The police aren't really bad guys; they're just acting that way because that's how they win. Anyone complaining about not having enough food is disqualified and has to go home. By deflecting or laughing off his son's most serious concerns (such as a rumor that the camp prisoners are all going to be "cooked in the oven" to become "buttons and soap"), Guido manages to transform Giosue's ordeal into what seems like a vacation.

Summary by James Berardinelli