Jun 11, 2001 12:00 PM
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What the power of laughter could do, would like to know? Just see this beautiful film. Genius Italian filmmaker Roberto Benigni makes one feel that Life is simply beautiful no matter how much pain it has within.
This film reminds Chaplin’s magic to blend the extremes of comedy with the extremes of tragedy. First half of the film is full of terrific comedy sequences and the other half is tragic but even in this part tears are not without smiles. The smiles of hopes make the tragedy a symbol of triumph of optimisms over the toughest possible situation.
Laughter and tears together take the viewers to the heights of optimism and enrich them with the power of positive thinking. Life is beautiful was nominated for 7 academy awards. Director Benigni has himself played the lead role of Guido, a Jewish hotel waiter in Italy 1930s, the period of Nazi terror.
The story starts with the sequence in which this humble hero Guido meets with Dora (Nicoletta Braschi, Benigni's real-life wife) and at first sight falls in love with her. After defeating his undeclared rival Dora’s fiancé in a series of funny situations they get married and are blessed with a son Joshua. Beautifully planned coincidences make this part more interesting.
World War II interrupts their fun filled life when they along with thousands of other Jews are sent to a concentration camp. Here, starts the real beauty of this film that highlights the indefatigable human spirit. Guido doesn’t want to show his son joshua the bitterness of the suddenly changed conditions. He doesn’t want to make him feel that they are at the receiving end of death at any moment.
He does not want to expose the truth to him so that Joshua doesn’t loose his faith in life. With his incredible capacity to laugh at the terrible sufferings in the camp Guido makes it possible to convince his son that the concentration camp is actually just a game played by the Nazis.
Every scene forces you to believe in life, every bit of it. Some of them may embed themselves in your memory forever. Like the scene when father and son are loaded into a train and Guido explains the “game” to son Joshua. And the scene at the camp where Guido confidently translates the instructions of the German officer for the inmates as the rules of “The game” being played.
Roberto Benigni not only directed and acted in the film but also is the co writer of the film. The performance of everyone in the film is very good. Specially Benigni in his tragi-comedy scenes and Joshua with his innocent looks have done a remarkable job.
The storyline is very compact, no loopholes, smoothly goes through the vicissitudes of life. With a perfect story base, powerful performance and technical soundness Life is beautiful is simply not to miss film.
