Life Is Beautiful Reviews

Watch It

Starting off as a light hearted comedy and progressing in to an amusing and engaging look at some very dark subject matter, Life is Beautiful is almost two movies in one, with both relying on the central performance of Roberto Benigini.

This is one of the most amusing and engaging movies I have seen for some time. It has been claimed this movie mocks the holocaust, but in reality only those with the most closed of minds could possibly argue this having watched the movie. Simply because the movie is light hearted does not mean that the viewer will not sympathise with the characters involved here and in fact this will probably have a bigger emotional impact on you than any number of darker films.

Funny, Enjoyable and Moving. A must see for everyone.

The most over rated film of all time!

Surely this is in the top 5 of most over rated films of all time. OK, first viewing was heart warming, but simply can't live up to the rave review. Come on, the whole story is so fairy, airy... Those cheap comic act is just cheesy. Can't stand it watching again.

Interesting ...

There's no denying the fact that, considering he wrote, directed and starred in it, this is a fantastic achievement for Roberto Benigni. It's not Citizen Kane, but it's REALLY good. To be honest, a slapstick comedy set for the most part during the holocaust doesn't sound like an idea that could be called 'heart-warming'. This tells the story of a father determined that his young son won't be mentally scarred by his experiences in a concentration camp, and so he makes a 'game' of it. It's that concept which makes up most of the movie, and in places it does start to get a little tired. Also you start to wonder about whether or not the father is doing the right thing ... I wonder if Benigni intended that.

But can dark subject matter be handled acceptably in a comedic way? Well, you might consider saying 'no' if you've never heard of 'Dr Strangelove', 'Full Metal Jacket', 'Delicatessen', 'Fargo', 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest', 'Arsenic and Old Lace', 'Kind Hearts and Coronets' ... well, you get the idea. It could be that it was made so soon after 'Schindler's List' that people became fixated on the comedy aspect of the movie and it became controversial. In fact, most people when they criticise how far-fetched the story is they actually use comparisons with 'Schindler's List'. I think that if you're criticising the realism of a film, your frame of reference should NOT be another film.

When it comes to movies, I tend to associate the word 'heart-warming' with 'scmaltzy' and 'cheesey', so I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy this but in the end I quite liked it. My advice is to see it and make your own mind up.

An absolute gem

This film is probably one of my favourite films ever. It never ceases to move me through a whole plethora of emotions.

Everything about it is exemplary: the script, the acting, the story, the characters, etc.

I cannot recommend this film highly enough.

I suspect some people may be put off by the fact that it has subtitles - do not be! After the first 10 minutes, or so, you will not even notice that you're reading subtitles.

An absolute gem.

One of the best ever

I cannot understand the people who rated this film on a low grade. They obviously missed the subtlety of it all. The father, a born comedian,simply wants to be happy with his princess. However from an early stage there loom hints of tradgedy; jackboots and nazi salutes and one feels for our Jewish hero and his family. The father is indeed a true hero, he carries his humour into hell on earth and by doing so protects his wife and son at an incalculable cost to himsef; how anyone can say he is sinister is beyond me. If trying to keep the dreadful truth from one's child that relatives are being made into soap and buttons is sinister then I have obviously got it wrong. The version I saw was Italian with subtitles, a Christmas present. I don't know whether the effect would have been the same if I had seen it dubbed as Italian is such an expressive language. This is one not to miss, a work of genius.

Grotesque

This is the film for you if you like lovable nazis and concentration camps with piped music and where hardly anyone gets hurt.

A shallow, vapid self-indulgent piece of appallingly bad taste claptrap.

The child in the camp puts on weight and everyone's happy.

See Ophuls ' The Sorrow and the Pity' and Resnais 'Night and Fog' and realise what a genuinely awful film 'life is beautiful' really is.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Funny and achingly moving in a unsentimental way that only european cinema can achieve. Refirms your faith in the human race.

A must see

One of the most memorable movies I have ever seen. Not to be missed by anyone. It is not only funny, emotional and beautifully filmed, it’s also brings to life the horrors that Jewish children faced at the hands of the Nazis.

Have a packet of tissues handy...

This is one of (if not perhaps the) best films I have seen in a long time. A personal perspective of tragedy on a vast scale, the approach of Benigni using comedy as a coping strategy is far more effective than anything attempting to show the holocaust in a more "realistic" light.

The film is about the ways in which people learn to cope with tragic events, and the beauty which can be found in even the bleakest circumstances.

I found this film to be deeply moving, I cried almost all the way through simply because of the sweet comedy moments in the first half making you actually care about the characters for the rest of the film. Guido is such a lovable character that it's almost unbearable to watch him and his family go through such tough things.

The dialogue is a little fast to begin with for slow readers (it's subtitled - unless you know Italian) but soon calms down; I even stopped noticing it after a while because I was so wrapped up in the story.

I'd recommend this film to anyone with an ounce of feeling in them.

Life may be beautiful, this film is ugly

Two equally terrible films in one - a nauseating 'love' story during the onset of WW2 is followed by a 'comedy' set in a concentrtion camp. Cheap and insulting, the funniest thing about this dramatised stand-up routine are the reviews which warn you about having to read subtitles! Apparently, if you stick with it, you will soon forget having to read them?! Sums up the type of people who like this dross. Lucky it's not black and white eh?