Life Is Beautiful
1997 · Directed by Roberto Benigni
Original language: Italian
- comedy
- drama
The story
A touching story of an Italian book seller of Jewish ancestry who lives in his own little fairy tale. His creative and happy life would come to an abrupt halt when his entire family is deported to a concentration camp during World War II. While locked up he tries to convince his son that the whole thing is just a game.
What it’s like
Warm, sun-washed Tuscan light gives way to the grey, barbed-wire chill of a camp, and the film's whimsy is what makes both halves hurt. Benigni's camera moves with a bright, bustling energy through village streets, a bookshop and a grand hotel, all golden hour and open windows, before the palette drains to muddy greys and cold industrial blues. The score is a buoyant accordion-and-strings waltz that keeps circling back, and it is the sound you carry out of the film. The pacing is a comedic tumble that slowly tightens into dread, with long stretches of slapstick and romance followed by sudden, stark silences. The emotional register is bittersweet and tender, a father's gentle absurdity holding back terror from a child, with the bond between them the warm centre of every scene. Intensity: moderate to heavy. The concentration camp setting brings threatening guards, humiliation, and mass murder shown mostly at a distance, with a single brief, shocking act of violence and the implied fate of the deported; there is no graphic gore. Best for viewers who want a tearful, uplifting story about love and imagination under horror, and who are ready for the Holocaust backdrop.
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