“Buongiorno principessa!” Two simple
words that bought a huge smile to my face during a film which has more
emotional peaks and troughs than a very emotionally peaky troughy thing. Life is Beautiful or La vita รจ bella in its original Italian
is a passionate and multi award winning comedy-drama set in Italy during
The Second World War. Its dark themes are counterbalanced with some delightful
comedy and a sweet story about a man trying to protect his young son from the
harsh realities of the war. Italian Jew Guido (Roberto Benigni – also director)
is a wildly imaginative and romantic soul who woos a local woman in amusing and
inventive ways. Fast forward a few years and Guido and his wife Dora (Nicoletta
Braschi) have a cute little boy called Joshua (Giorgio Cantarini). When Guido
and Joshua are taken to a work camp by the Germans, Guido puts in tireless
effort to hide the truth from his son, telling him that they are playing a game
for points in which the winning team will win a real life tank.
Life is Beautiful really is beautiful in of itself. It’s one of the
sweetest films I’ve seen and is amongst many people’s (including my Dad’s and
girlfriend’s) favourite films of all time. Not only is it a good-natured story
but it’s also very bold. Upon its initial release it faced some criticism for
making light of the Holocaust but personally I don’t think it does anything to mock
that horrific event or undermine the suffering of the millions who had to
endure abysmal treatment under the Nazis and their collaborators. Instead it
displays the triumph of human spirit and the deep love of a father for going to
great lengths to protect his son.
