Life is Beautiful is a wondrous, multifaceted experience. At the opening of the film, we meet Guido, brilliantly portrayed by writer/director/star Roberto Benigni, a Jewish waiter living in 1930’s Tuscany. You immediately fall in love with Guido’s childlike humor and slapstick antics, reminiscent of comic legends like Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. Guido then meets and falls instantly in love with Dora (Benigni’s wife in real-life, Nicoletta Braschi) a pretty schoolteacher who he hilariously keeps bumping into (literally) on the streets of Italy. He exclaims “Buongiorno Princepessa!” (Good morning, Princess!) every time he sees Dora, and becomes more and more intent upon winning her heart.
Dora is unfortunately engaged to someone else, but this does not stop Guido. He shows up at her school and gives an impromptu demonstration to students on why Italians are the strongest most virile race (using his own beanpole-like body), working as a waiter at her engagement party and eventually riding into the party on a horse and riding away with her. All of these moments are brilliant opportunities for Benigni to showcase his unique gift for physical comedy.
Five years later, Guido and Dora are married and have a son, Giosue (Giorgio Cantorini). They are deliriously happy together and live a charmed life. The film takes a more dramatic turn, however, when the Nazi occupation moves into their town, and Guido must explain to his son why they aren’t allowed in certain stores, or other places of business. Guido keeps his head held high and uses his comic gift to turn this frightening turn of events into something non-threatening that his son can understand.
When Guido and his son are taken to a concentration camp, Guido brilliantly continues this plan, telling his son that they are going on a surprise trip for his birthday. When German soldiers bark orders at him and the other prisoners, Guido explains that this is a kind of game with a point system, and effectively turns the entire concentration camp into a fantastical game for his son. This heartbreaking gesture reaches the viewer on a level that few dramatic films can. As Benigni says in the "making of" featurette, sometimes it takes a comic to reach these levels of emotionalism, somehow comedy can sometimes go even further than drama to capture an experience.
When Dora herself is taken to the camp and segregated to the women’s side, Guido is able to get to the loudspeaker one morning and exclaim his love for Dora to the entire camp. He expresses how he’s dreamed of her every night, and thinks of her every day. Giosue excitedly says hello to his mother, mentioning how many points they have in the “game.” Dora hears this and is given this incredible gift of knowing that her son and husband are safe, at least for that day.
The "making of" feautrette is incredibly heartwarming and showcases the incredible loving influence that Benigni and his film have had not only on the film industry at large but from Jewish organizations, human rights organizations, historical societies, and the like. Stars like Michael Keaton and Walter Matthau are featured talking about their love for Benigni and this film, Matthau exclaims that when he worked with Roberto, he “never had a better time working.” His spirit is just so genuine and palpable.
Benigni reveals that he himself is not Jewish, and perhaps that brings the message of the film to an even greater level of universalism. He has received recognition in Jerusalem for his work as well as by Jewish organizations in Europe and America. Life is Beautiful is a daring film insofar as it is a comedy about the Holocaust, something that everyone can agree is incredibly risky, but it is not just a comedy, it is a lush masterpiece of a film that touches all levels of human emotion, from humor to love to compassion to sorrow and injustice, and through its’ courageous exploration of all these levels of experience it is able to portray that life, in all of its forms, is truly beautiful.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
"The Making of Life is Beautiful" is a lovely exploration of the film and how far reaching its message has been. I don’t think I’ve ever cried during a making of featurette before, but somehow this does the trick.
There is a montage of the Academy Award TV commercials, a compilation of trailers from when the film was in theaters, changed every time it received more nominations, awards, or accolades, and finishes with the academy award wins, claiming that this film: “will restore your faith in movies."
"Life is Beautiful" is on sale October 4, 2011 and is rated PG13. Drama. Directed by Roberto Benigni. Written by Roberto Benigni, Vincenzo Cerami. Starring Giorgio Cantorini, Nicoletta Braschi, Roberto Benigni.
