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Life is Beautiful
(La Vita E Bella)
***1/2
Cinema
Releases - February 12, 1999
Rated on a 4-star
scale. Italy. Directed by Roberto Benigni. Written by Roberto Benigni and
Vincenzo Cerami. Starring Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giorgio Cantarini,
Giustino Durano, Sergio Bustric, Horst Buchholz, Lydia Alfonsi, Marisa
Paredes.
Life is beautiful. A marvellous phrase and truth.
It's the conclusion of any large meditation over varying emotions -- go through
happiness and sadness, victory and tragedy, love and hate -- when all's said
and done, yeah, life is beautiful. For the most part, Roberto Benigni's new
film "Life is Beautiful" conveys both the truth and the emotions,
unfolding as wondrous, moving cinema.
Benigni, the beloved Italian comedian whose career
has seen the highs of Jim Jarmusch films and the lows of "Son of the Pink
Panther", plays Guido Orefice, a Jewish waiter who works for his ageing uncle
(Giustino Durano) and spends most of his time with buddy Ferruccio (Sergio
Bustric). As the film opens, they're having a leisurely country drive, only
to discover that the brakes on their car are not working. As they speed down
a hill and into a small village, Guido tries to motion for people to get
off the road, but they all just line up and salute him, thinking he's a visiting
dictator making the same gesture to them. This is the late 1930s, and fascism
is doing more than well.
Guido falls in love at first sight with a radiant
young woman named Dora (Nicoletta Braschi), who he has a strange habit of
bumping into in public. "Bonjourno principessa!"("Good morning princess!")
is forever his greeting, and his attempts at wooing her climax in a captivating
stretch where he manipulates coincidences around him to make their evening
seem nothing short of miraculous. Maybe it is.
Dissolve to five or six years later, near the
end of the war -- Guido and Dora are married, and have a son, Giosue (Giorgio
Cantarini). We catch a glimpse of their enchanting household, but things
are soon shattered, and the Nazis take Guido, his uncle and little Giosue
off to a concentration camp. Dora follows, determined to try and find her
family, even if the chance of doing so is remote.
At the camp, Guido struggles desperately to find
something to tell Giosue, to shield him from the nightmare of the place.
Eventually, in a scene that manages to be tense, brave, chilling and also
hilarious, he convinces the kid that everything around them is part of an
elaborate game. Extreme discipline wins you points, he tells him, and the
first person to get a thousand points wins a tank. Not a toy tank, but a
real tank, which they'll be free to take home. The atmosphere is so distressing
because everybody wants to win. Chilling rumours are just tricks to scare
him, because he's in the lead, and everyone's jealous!
There are quite a few memorably disturbing moments
in the film -- for example the arrival at the camp, when old people are subtly
removed from the general line; the framing of certain shots to mirror famous
photographed images of the Holocaust; the last scene Guido's uncle appears
in; the obsession that destroys camp physician Dr Lessing (Horst Bucholz),
and shows him to be a remarkable example of the 'banality of evil'. But
generally, Benigni does not like to show obvious onscreen terror or gore.
In both the first half of "Life is Beautiful", which takes place in the regular
world, and the second half, in the camp, things are visually generalised,
stagy, almost watered down.
This has angered some people, who feel that the
Holocaust should be shown for what it tangibly was, but aside from the fact
that this is a parable about love, not a documentary about Nazism, Benigni
has the understandable quibble that detailed recreation is a dangerous ground
for an artist to tread on, because only survivors know what the situation
was actually like. He's not trying to get people to think "maybe it wasn't
that bad after all", but rather let us apply our own knowledge of the Holocaust
to his vague imagery. This is effective for two reasons. Firstly, our experience
is not just limited to the horrors of the screen -- a lot of the film is
taking place in our own imagination, a place without bounds. Secondly, the
side of us that IS concentrating on the screen is forced to deal with what
it feels about the characters and their story.
For me, the predominant sentiment felt was care,
because Benigni quickly wins us over and gets us involved. He has, as an
actor, a carefree charm that's hard to resist. He's silly, but not an irritating
buffoon, and his behaviour certainly doesn't seem contrived -- what comes
across is the feeling that he carries warm energy as genuinely and naturally
as Cyrano de Bergerac carries a big nose. He reminds us why uncomplicated
humour was once so enthralling to so many.
Just as we share in his simple amusements, then,
so do we share in his simple loves. I found myself moved by Guido's, and
having my own, unconditional affection for son and "principessa". And I found
myself moved by the very nature of the film -- it doesn't tug our heartstrings
with repellent violence, but by painting tragic fates for people we cherish.
This film is not, as some reviews have called it, a comedy about the Holocaust.
It's the Holocaust as told by a comedian. In Benigni's words, "What is more
tragic than to imagine the face of Stan Laurel before going to
die?"
"Life is Beautiful" comes close to greatness,
but does have problems. There are seemingly small problems, such as: what
happens to Ferruccio in the second half? His name may or may not have been
mentioned, but I didn't see him appear, and if he did, he certainly had no
lines. And more important problems, which will require me to discuss the
ending of the movie, so don't read on if you have not seen it.
When Guido is finally dealt with, and we do not
see him again, there is simply no closure to the situation. I'm not saying
that I wanted to witness what happens to him -- I've already expressed awareness
that the style of "Life is Beautiful" is evocative, not explicit. But we
needed to see a final look of seriousness, or love, or pain in his eyes.
As it is, the last image we have of him is waltzing to his death unaware,
and it simply doesn't feel right.
Nor does the consequence of his death in the
narrative, an abrupt shifting in point of view from Guido's eyes to Giosue's.
Yes, the story is narrated by Giosue, but be realistic -- our entry point
is Guido, and we spend more time with him than anyone. The plan which propels
the story is his idea, and he's both the central and main
character.
Still, perfect movies are rare, and the fact that
this is not one should be overlooked when deciding whether to see it. It
is unmissable, and shows more clearly than almost any other film I've seen
that among the faceless crowds associated with mass oppression there is emotion,
spirit and individuality. The things which make life
beautiful.
COPYRIGHT© 1999 Ian
Waldron-Mantgani
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