Life Is BeautIFUL
Composite Score: 85.19
Starring: Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giorgio Cantarini, Giustino Durano, Sergio Bini Bustric, Marisa Paredes, and Horst Buchholz
Director: Roberto Benigni
Writers: Vincenzo Cerami and Roberto Benigni
Genres: Comedy, Drama, History, Romance, War
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for holocaust-related thematic elements
Box Office: $230.10 million worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
Life Is Beautiful is Roberto Benigni’s film about a Jewish bookshop owner in Italy who becomes a victim of the Holocaust, along with his wife and son, toward the end of World War II. It follows Benigni’s Guido as he utilizes all the optimism and creativity he can muster to help his young son face the horrors of the concentration camps of the holocaust. In addition to Benigni, the film also features Nicoletta Braschi as Guido’s wife Dora, Giorgio Cantarini as their son Giosué, and Giustino Durano as Guido’s aging Uncle Eliseo. In addition to nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Editing, the film won Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film, Best Original Score, and Best Lead Actor (Benigni) at the Oscars and currently sits at number 27 on IMDB’s list of highest-rated films and number 106 on Letterboxd’s. Its optimistic take on tragedy has made it one of the greatest films ever made.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
Opponents of Life Is Beautiful, and indeed any film that doesn’t treat the holocaust with the bleakness and intensity of Shoah, will argue that Benigni’s comedic underpinning of one of the darkest times in history detracts from the victims and makes light of their situations – see criticisms of Jojo Rabbit for further reference. To some extent, I can see where those critiques come from, but I’d also argue that if we can’t laugh in the midst of tragedy then we might truly be lost as a society, and to Benigni’s benefit, nothing in the film seeks to make light of the holocaust so much as it attempts to soften the blow for people who already understand. It treats the audience as Guido treats Giosué, recognizing the inevitability of what they are about to experience while making it as bearable as possible because it understands the pain that is coming. I do think there is a critique to be brought about the film’s decision not to dwell overlong in the concentration camp, limiting that experience to a mere 30-45 minutes of runtime does feel a bit like that excess of levity that critics want to plaster over the film. One more scene with just one or two of the characters in the camp could have really driven home the tragedy of the situation, but I still think it handles its subject matter well on the whole.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
Roberto Benigni’s central performance is the driving force that makes Life Is Beautiful such a success. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance, beating out a stacked year that included Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan, Edward Norton in American History X, and Ian McKellen in Gods and Monsters, and I’d argue that Benigni fully deserved his win. His performance runs through a full range of comedy, drama, romance, and tragedy, giving the audience slapstick, wit, a bit of suave, despair, hope, love (both romantic and paternal), and everything in between as he carries the film on his shoulders. It’s a performance that takes us through the range of the human experience, just as the film does, offering a look not just at the holocaust but at life as a whole. Through his performance, the film invites the audience to the full experience of life – the highest highs of survival and romance and passion to the lowest lows of loss and despair and unjustified, wanton death. It’s a performance that is inextricable from the film, for without it, the film could not function properly, becoming something that would be too light for its subject matter and too heavy for the comedy at the beginning. With Benigni’s portrayal of Guido, we get the fullness of his vision for the film – one of hope despite the direst of tragedies and of embracing the beauty of life in order to stand defiant in the face of oppression and bigotry. It’s a powerful message, only amplified by the films tragic and optimistic ending, reminding the audience that, while life might be beautiful, reality often mars that beauty, but we can choose what to do when that happens. Do we dwell on it and let that marring keep us from returning to life’s beauty, or do we celebrate what we have lost by continuing to live triumphant?
Life Is Beautiful stands the test of time thanks to its strong central performance from actor/writer/director Roberto Benigni that speaks to the film’s message of fighting back against tragedy and oppression through celebrations of life and love, ultimately making the film one of the Greatest Films of All Time. Some might argue that the film’s levity detracts from its message and from the historic event that it touches on in the holocaust, but it seeks more to portray life in its entirety than to dwell on a specific tragedy or (on the other end of the spectrum) to offer the audience something so saccharine that they aren’t moved at all. This film is currently available to rent on most streaming services for anyone who wants to check it out in the near future.