La vita è bella (Life Is Beautiful)
1997
****½
Director: Roberto Benigni
Cast: Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giorgio Cantarini, Horst Buchholz, Giustino Durano, Marisa Paredes, Sergio Bustric, Amerigo Fontani
Guido is a jovial Italian Jewish man who jokes his way through any situation. This doesn't stop even when the Nazis occupy Northern Italy in 1944, and Guido, his wife, and young son are sent to a concentration camp. Concentration camp comedy sounds like an oxymoron, but somehow Roberto Benigni pulls it off. This is a funny, warm, and heartbreaking drama comedy about a father who will do or say anything to protect his son from the awful truth. The film won Academy Awards for best foreign language film, Nicola Piovani's score, and Benigni's animated and occasionally exhausting lead performance.
