Life is Beautiful

How do you take a subject like the Jewish Holocaust and make a comedy about it without making something that will offend nearly everyone? Director/writer/actor Roberto Benigni had to have had that on his mind when he first conceived the idea that would eventually become his film La vita è bella (Life is Beautiful). If he didn’t, those around him soon did because he was advised not to make the picture. He wasn’t Jewish, and an idea such as his ran the risk of being in very poor taste. 

But Benigni knew that he wasn’t really making a film about the Holocaust or the concentration camps but a film about the human spirit and how to preserve innocence and beauty even in the face of the worst man has to offer. I remember seeing interviews on television when Life is Beautiful was in theaters where rabbis and other high-level Jewish leaders were asked about this film and whether they felt it was in poor taste, and the overwhelming response was that they felt the film had a positive message and that it was not an insult to those who had been in those camps. People in general understood what Benigni was doing and supported it. They did not feel like he was mocking the camps or making light of the horrors of the Nazi party. 

At the time, Roberto Benigni was not well known globally. He was a sensation in his native Italy for his comedic films but also for some of his questionable political views. His primary crossover performance for American viewers was the lead in the critically trounced Son of the Pink Panther, a much-maligned entry in the long-running series. When Life is Beautiful started making the rounds, though, suddenly we were all hearing about this genius comedian who had made a foreign-language film that had some serious chances at making a run at the Oscars. 

This was 1998, and unless you lived in a major city, your chances of seeing a foreign language film in the theaters was non-existent. Even so, when Life is Beautiful was announced as one of the five Best Picture nominees, it did receive a nationwide release, albeit a muted one. I saw it in a second-run theater in the fall of 1998 or early 1999, and that experience was eye-opening. Here was a film tackling some very serious subjects yet allowed us to laugh and find some joy in a very joyless situation. You don’t forget the dangers surrounding the characters, but you can’t help but smile, too, because Benigni is manipulating your emotions expertly.

The film is basically divided into two parts. The first part is the story of how Guido Orefice (Benigni), an Italian Jewish waiter, meets and marries Dora (Nicoletta Braschi), a Gentile school teacher. The year is 1939, and Guido is on his way to Arezzo, Tuscany, to work. Along the way, he rescues Dora, who has been stung by a bee and falls out of the loft of a barn literally into his arms. Later, he sees her again in the city and, through his own ingenuity and comedic wit, finds ways to keep running into her. Dora is slated to marry another man, but she is soon swayed by Guido’s affections and enthusiasm. The two are later married, have a son, Giosuè (Giorgio Cantarini), and run a small bookstore.

Throughout this first part of the film, there are hints of what is to come, but they are more in the background, second fiddle to the courtship of Dora. However, they are prominent enough that we never forget this is late 1930s Italy, and Europe is rapidly turning against the Jews. The second half of the film begins in 1944 when Giosuè is still very young. This is the height of World War II, and the Nazis occupy Northern Italy. Guido, his uncle Eliseo (Giustino Durano), and Giosuè are arrested and put on a train bound for a concentration camp. Dora arrives and insists she, too, will go on the train to stay with her family. She is allowed to board but upon arrival is separated, along with the rest of the women, from the men and children. 

In this second half of the film, Guido, determined to keep his son safe and to protect him from the horrors all around, convinces Giosuè that this is all a game, an elaborate contest that requires him to hide, keep quiet, and not complain. The prize if he does so is a real war tank. Occasionally, the boy hears things that make him doubt this, but Guido always finds a way to convince him that it is a real contest. Guido, who has made his way through life by being quick-witted and bumbling his way out of situations, uses that unique ability to navigate through this dire predicament, protecting his son, and occasionally finding ways to communicate to his wife that the two of them are still alive. 

So, is it okay to laugh with a film about the Holocaust? That would depend on what we are laughing at. In Life is Beautiful, we are never laughing at the evils that are being perpetrated on the Jews. Even in the first half of the film, when vandals and bullies are attacking Jews, the act is taken seriously. We get the first sign of this when Guido arrives at his uncle’s place, and some hoodlums have attacked him in his own residence. Later, someone paints his uncle’s horse green and writes Jewish Horse on it. These acts are not played as jokes. How Guido uses these things, though, is, however. Guido uses it to ride off with Dora, taking her from her very own engagement party on the back of a green horse right out from under the hands of her Aryan fiancé. 

Later, in the concentration camp, the Nazi soldiers, lacking an Italian-speaking soldier, call for one of the Jews to act as a translator to communicate the camp rules. Guido, seeing an opportunity to paint this all as an elaborate game for his son, volunteers to translate, despite not speaking German. Instead, he mimics the gestures of the German soldier and makes up a bunch of game rules on the spot, fully aware that if the soldiers pick up on what he is really saying, it would mean his life. All the other Italian Jews watching this can only stand there incredulously listening to what he is saying to them. It’s a brilliant bit of comedic physicality that not only plays for laughs but also never forgets that this is a deadly situation, too. 

Giorgio Cantarini was a real find for the role of Giosuè. This is not what is derisively referred to as a Hollywood kid. Giorgio is so natural and believable in this that you forget he is playing a part. His relationship with Guido is nearly perfect, too, leading to some of the most endearing scenes in this entire picture. His dislike for showers, set up well before they arrive at the camp, saves him from a fate like all the other kids. His love and trust for his father fuels his gullibility, which in turn also saves his life. But the best moment for me comes nearly at the end when, worn out and sleepy, Giosuè is being carried down a foggy road, cradled in his father’s arms. As he sleeps, his father can just make out through the fog the piles of bodies, ghostly and stacked to the sky. It’s horrific in scope, and Guido’s mask of good-natured humor, there for his son’s sake, slips away in the face of all that evil.

The ending of this film was a real shock when I first saw this back in the day. But reflecting on it in the years since, it really is the only way this film could have ended. This is the story of a man who does everything, including laying down his own life, to shield his son from the horrors around him and to try and reunite them with his wife. The irony is that had he hidden like he told his son to, he would have probably survived the camp, too. This is a work of fiction, though, and Roberto Benigni is emphasizing the love of a father for his son, even in the face of death.

Life is Beautiful struck a chord when it was released, and it resonated with audiences, becoming one of the only foreign language films to ever be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. That was far less common in the 1990s, of course. Just as rare is an actor or actress winning for a non-English performance. Benigni accomplished that, taking home two Oscars that night, one for his acting and one for the Best Foreign Language Film. His acceptance speeches were full of the excitement and passion he had for this project and for how grateful he was that this film found an audience. Sometimes the Oscars find a truly brave and original film to lavish praise on and boost consumer awareness of. That happened here. Most of us may not have found this film had it not been for the Oscars. 

Academy Award Nominations:

Best Picture: Elda Ferri and Gianluigi Braschi

Best Director: Roberto Benigni

Best Actor: Roberto Benigni (won)

Best Original Screenplay: Roberto Benigni and Vincenzo Cerami

Best Foreign Language Film: Italy (won)

Best Film Editing: Simona Paggi

Best Music - Original Dramatic Score: Nicola Piovani (won)

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Release Date: December 20, 1997

Running Time: 116 Minutes

Rated PG-13

Starring: Roberto Benigni and Nicoletta Braschi

Directed by: Roberto Benigni