"Buongiorno, Principessa!"
-Guido to his princess, Dora
La Vita è Bella
La Vita e Bella is the original title of this movie. Most anglophones,
sadly enough, know it by its English name, which is why
it is noded here.
Just - for the love of the movie - do not see the redubbed version of this
film. You won't die from a few subtitles, and the Italian spontaneity in
this movie really adds to its value.
Why this is a gorgeous movie
La Vita e Bella is probably one of the most surprising movies you'll ever
see. Sure it might not be as hip and cool as Schindler's List or
Saving Ryans Privates, but in terms of world war
two movies, La Vita e Bella lands in an entirely different category than
any of the other war movies I have seen.
Most importanly, La Vita e Bella isn't about war heroes or how horrible
war is. It is about how normal people try and cope with the situation.
Also, using a certain degree of sarcasm, irony and satire, the director
does a good job in describing how the lead character explains to his child
what fascism is all about. Nothing short of brilliant.
Plot synopsis (no real spoilers here)
When the movie starts off, we meet Guido (Roberto Benigni), who falls in
love with Dora (Nicoletta Braschi, Benigni's wife in real life) after he
moves from the countryside into a town near Tusca. In the beginning of
the movie, a heartwarming love story is being told between the two of them.
Guido's flirting is world class, and Dora can't help but fall for this strange,
but charming man.
Let's skip five years ahead in the film. Guido and Dora are married and have
a son (Giosue). World War two begins, but Guido refuses to let Giosue be affected
by it. By telling white lies and bending the truth, Guido invents all kinds
of stories as to why bad things are happening to them.
Dora disappears during the war. Guido and Giosue end up in a concentration
camp. Still, Guido tries to protect his son from the war that is raging,
by pretending they are part of a very Big Brother-esque game show;
You can lose all your points for any one of three things.
One: If you cry.
Two: If you ask to see your mother.
Three: If you're hungry and ask for a snack!
In the process of trying to protect his son, Guido ends up in all kinds of
charming, wonderful situations that made me wonder how I myself would cope
with being in a war. I suspect that is what the director tried in the first
place.
The first half of the movie is a gorgeous love story that is bound to leave
you smiling. The second half (the part set in the concentration camp) does
a great deal to sour up this happiness - an effect used to full extent by
the director - and yet, when the whole movie is over, you sit there, realizing
that you just saw the feelgood movie of the year, although several points
of the movie are quite sad.
It is a story about love - a well told and well shot story, well worth watching.
The Controversy
Making a comedy out of something as serious as the holocaust was bound
to create some large reactions. It did, but, fascinating enough, mainly
in a postitive way.
The movie takes a fresh new look on things, and several of the people who
have suffered the pain and suffering of the concentration camps say that
La Vita e Bella is one of the better approaches to this difficult subject.
The cast and other facts
The most dominant character is without doubt Guido, played by the famous
Italian comedian Roberto Benigni. Not only does he play the lead character,
but he also wrote and directed the movie.
Most important roles:
The movie was made in 1998
Awards
La Vita e Bella has won a bunch of awards both locally in Italy and
internationally:
Trivia
(stolen from IMDB)
- The number on Benigni's prison camp uniform is the same number on Charlie
Chaplin's uniform in Great Dictator, The (1940), the satire of Hitler and
fascism.
- Benigni says the title comes from a quote by Leon Trotsky. Knowing he
was about to be killed by Stalin's assassins, he saw his wife in the garden
and wrote that, in spite of everything, "life is beautiful."
-30-
| 
