La vita è bella (1997)
(Life Is Beautiful)
Country: IT
Technical: col 116m
Director: Roberto Benigni
Cast: Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Horst Buchholz
Synopsis:
The idyllic life of an Italian Jewish bookseller is shattered when he and his family are transported to the death camps by the Nazis, but he contrives to shield his wife and son from ultimate hardship.
Review:
A film of two distinct halves, the first gentle burlesque of the Louis de Funès kind, the second bitter-sweet horror. Benigni manages to bring laughter to the holocaust in one memorable scene in which he mistranslates the barked instructions of a guard, but the rest of the time the humour is uneasy. Still, it falls short of being offensive, and the message, that with the necessary sacrifices life can be made beautiful, is perhaps a valuable one for our self-indulgent times.
(Life Is Beautiful)
Country: IT
Technical: col 116m
Director: Roberto Benigni
Cast: Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Horst Buchholz
Synopsis:
The idyllic life of an Italian Jewish bookseller is shattered when he and his family are transported to the death camps by the Nazis, but he contrives to shield his wife and son from ultimate hardship.
Review:
A film of two distinct halves, the first gentle burlesque of the Louis de Funès kind, the second bitter-sweet horror. Benigni manages to bring laughter to the holocaust in one memorable scene in which he mistranslates the barked instructions of a guard, but the rest of the time the humour is uneasy. Still, it falls short of being offensive, and the message, that with the necessary sacrifices life can be made beautiful, is perhaps a valuable one for our self-indulgent times.
(Life Is Beautiful)
Country: IT
Technical: col 116m
Director: Roberto Benigni
Cast: Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Horst Buchholz
Synopsis:
The idyllic life of an Italian Jewish bookseller is shattered when he and his family are transported to the death camps by the Nazis, but he contrives to shield his wife and son from ultimate hardship.
Review:
A film of two distinct halves, the first gentle burlesque of the Louis de Funès kind, the second bitter-sweet horror. Benigni manages to bring laughter to the holocaust in one memorable scene in which he mistranslates the barked instructions of a guard, but the rest of the time the humour is uneasy. Still, it falls short of being offensive, and the message, that with the necessary sacrifices life can be made beautiful, is perhaps a valuable one for our self-indulgent times.