Life Is Beautiful
Directed by: Roberto Benigni
Written by: Vincenzo Cerami and Roberto Benigni
Starring: Roberto Benigni

The film Life is Beautiful was a cinematic feature that I wanted to see for quite a while ever since it was released. Unfortunately, the film was considered to be a “speciality” film and wasn’t mainstream enough to be featured in Silver City mega-plexes or Famous Player movie coliseums in the Niagara area. That’s the disadvantage of living in a small area suburban town. You aren’t big enough to be considered to have much taste, so it’s not worth the expense to bring down culture here. The usual fluff would probably do just fine. If I wished to see the movie, then it was required that I travel. For Niagarians, the nearest centre of culture is Toronto. However, a two hour drive plus admission is quite a heavy price to pay to go see a movie. My best bet was to wait for it on video. So, I waited.

I waited to see Life is Beautiful earn seven Oscar nominations among the notable being Best Picture and Best Actor. In the end, the gifted, charismatic Italian nut Roberto Benigni claimed the Best Actor prize and touched my little mafia heart as he proudly accepted the award with a broken English speech and childlike wonder that is so characteristic of the Italian Star. My hunger to see the movie became insatiable.

My time would finally come as my friend Michael would appropriate the ultimate in home entertainment experiences, the DVD. I found DVD technology to be quite amazing. The DVD of Life is Beautiful for example was just chock full of little goodies and presents inside that I felt like it was Christmas time. I even wanted to decorate a tree! However, the night was getting late and as they say, “The show must go on!”.So we put in the DVD, we saw pictures, we saw words, we saw credits and then we went home. The End.

However, in between those dramatic key frames of our intense cinematic experience, a moving and beautiful story played out before my eyes. The story was centred around an Italian Jewish father whose family was captured during WWII in Italy by the Nazis. In order to hide the despicable reality of war from his young son, the father pretends that the entire war is a game that is meant to be won. The film is so touching in the explanations, attempts and sacrifices that the father makes in blinding his son from the horror of racism, war, pain and death. Fatherly acts that I wish were carried out more often in the world. The film was one of those rare movies that actually drew me in and affected me deeply. By the end, I could even feel a tear welling up in my eye. I couldn’t shoot anybody for a week.

I recommend Life is Beautiful to anyone and I believe that it would be a rare treat for any movie fan, especially the foreign film connoisseur. I also highly recommend that you watch the film in Italian with English subtitles in order to capture Roberto Benigni’s extraordinary talent to the fullest. No other voice does him justice. In conclusion…

La Vita E Bella e un film molto belissima. Viva Roberto Benigni!!

– Peter “The Gooch” Meneguzzi