La vita e bella (1997)Starring: Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giorgio Cantarini, Giustino Durano, Sergio Bini Bustric, Horst Buchholz
Life is Beautiful really shot onto everyone's radar as a result of actor/director/producer Roberto Benigni's amazing Oscar celebration after the film won the Best Foreign language picture at the 1998 Academy Awards. It did amazingly well for a foreign film at the Academy Awards, not only winning awards for Best Foreign Film, Best Actor and Best Original Score, but also receiving nominations for Best Editing, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture, an achievement seldom seen for non-English language films. But when you see this film it all makes sense.
In 1930s Italy, the carefree Guido (Benigni) moves to the city to open up a bookshop, working as a waiter for his uncle Elisio (Durano) while he attempts to set up his business. Through a series of serendipitous meetings, he falls for local school teacher Dora (Braschi), and after saving her from her engagement to a stuffy clerk, they marry and have a son, Giosue (Cantarini). All is well in life until Guido, Giosue and Elisio are rounded up to be taken to a concentration camp. Despite not being Jewish, Dora insists they take her too. In order to protect his son from the harshness of their reality, Guido convinces Giosue that they are involved in an elaborate game, with the prize for the winner being a real tank.
Life is Beautiful is film of two distinct halves. The main crux of the narrative, their being herded into a Nazi death camp, does not actually occur until about an hour into this two hour movie. The first half of the story deals with the romance between Guido and Dora, but more importantly it establishes the character of Guido. By giving the audience a good long time to embrace the character of Guido and learn his outlook on life, it enables the audience to understand his actions in the second half of the film, thus making it all the more effective.
I'd never seen Roberto Benigni in anything before. He plays a joyous, carefree, enthusiastic romantic, who if his Oscars performance is anything to go by, is reasonably consistent with his real life personality. The best way I've seen him described is an Italian half Woody Allen, half Jim Carrey. He is a physical comedian, performing a very European style of slapstick comedy, but also has the slightly nerdy Jewish thing going for him, though more of a joyful, life-loving nerd than a Woody Allen manic depressive nerd. Benigni's chemistry with Braschi is fantastic, but that is probably explained that they are married in real life.
Life is Beautiful copped a bit of criticism at the time for being almost sacrilegious, because effectively it is a comedy dealing with the holocaust, a somewhat touchy subject. While this is indeed what the film is, it is a mistake to suggest that just because the film is a comedy it is in any way making light of the horrors that occurred in those death camps. There are different types of comedy which work in different ways. Confusion arises from the fact that the comic tone in Life is Beautiful changes mid film. The first half is a very light-hearted, slapstick style of comedy. In the second half of the film, despite Guido being the same character, the comedy becomes much more rooted in tragedy. His playfulness is not an expression of his not-a-care-in-the-world nature, but stems from an all to great awareness of the darkness of their situation. What we see is simply Guido's refusal to resign himself to such a horrible fate, and his determination to do whatever he can to protect his son. In many ways the second half of Life is Beautiful is as powerful a statement on the holocaust as the brilliant Schindler's List, just with a different approach.
Life is Beautiful is one of a very few films which legitimately has the potential to make you laugh out loud and cry. The film has some real tragic moments and some real moments of elation (when Guido hyjacks the camp PA system and let's fly with a trademark "Bonjourno principessa!" to let his wife know he is still alive, you can't help but get a bit goosebumpy). It is the strongest portrayal of a father's love for his son, and the lengths that he will go to to protect him, that I have seen in a film. It is a simply beautiful film which confronts you with the horrors and injustices of war, but without letting you lose sight of the joy and beauty of life. Maybe it wasn't Saving Private Ryan that was robbed by Shakespeare in Love after all.
No comments:
Post a Comment