Life Is Beautiful

Life Is Beautiful (1997) behaves like two different films, and the second one deliberately dismantles the first. It opens as a romantic comedy in 1930s Italy. Guido falls for a schoolteacher and wins her with a run of increasingly ridiculous stunts. It is fast, warm and genuinely funny. Then the family is deported and Guido tells his five year old son that the camp is an elaborate game with points and a tank as the prize. Everything after that rests on that lie. That choice has been argued over since release. One side says using comedy to frame the Holocaust softens it. The other says the film never shows the camp as it was and never claims to, that it is about a father with nothing left but invention. Benigni's own father spent time in a camp. Both readings are serious and it is better to watch with the argument in your head than without it. It won three Oscars. Benigni climbed over the seats on his way to collect one. Good for: emotional drama, Italian cinema, and viewers who do not mind being manipulated openly. Less good for: anyone wanting historical accuracy. The film speaks in fable and the ending is heavy.