Monday, October 26, 1998
Movie shows Holocaust’s lighter side
FILM: Italian Benigni shines as actor, writer in Å’Life is
Beautiful’
By Ash Steffy
Daily Bruin Contributor
Perhaps the most surprising thing about "Life is Beautiful",
winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, is
the relatively benign way it depicts the Holocaust. Audiences for
the last several years have grown so accustomed to such
hard-hitting WWII fare as "Schindler’s List" and "Saving Private
Ryan". Inevitably someone was going to make a lighter film.
Which is not to say that this PG-13 story (which incidentally
took home eight Italian Oscars including Best Picture, Actor,
Director and Screenplay) lacks any emotional impact. What it does
lack are those previous films’ graphic gore and sweeping historical
scale. "Beautiful" aims for a different, quieter kind of emotional
resonance. Co-writer, director and actor Roberto Benigni has taken
the atrocious setting of a German concentration camp and from it
extracted a warmhearted, tear-jerking and  yes Â
hilarious comedy.
The main character is Guido (Benigni), an Italian-Jew with huge
dreams of success. He arrives in the Tuscan town of Arezzo in 1939
to pursue his dream of opening a bookstore, and almost immediately
falls in love with a schoolteacher named Dora (Braschi). Dora
becomes enchanted with Guido’s boyish enthusiasm, but there’s one
slight problem  she has already agreed to marry a Fascist
official who bears a personal grudge toward him.
After Guido choreographs a few hilarious "chance" encounters
with the schoolteacher, she finally gives into him and a
picture-perfect romance ensues. Several years later, after Nora and
Guido have married and have a son, Giosue, racial bigotry has
worsened. Guido attempts to shield his son from the harsh reality
of their social position in 1940’s Europe  a particularly
daunting task after he and Giosue are shipped off to the
concentration camps.
Nora, realizing the government has put her husband and son on
the train, rushes to the station and insists they put her on as
well. She would rather suffer the camps than continue living in
freedom without them.
Humor generally doesn’t come to mind when one thinks about the
Holocaust, but Benigni has co-written and directed a marvelously
clever comedy-drama that shows how a family’s love can survive even
the most atrocious injustices.
Those seeking a realistic depiction of the Holocaust will be
disappointed. The film cheerfully kisses goodbye realism in favor
of a story whose tension hinges on whether or not Giosue will
discover the true purpose of the concentration camps, not whether
or not he will die. Still, the film contains enough tragedy to
leave viewers unsure of the main characters" ultimate fates.
As the six-year-old Giosue, newcomer Giorgio Cantarini couldn’t
be more lovable and adorably stubborn, even when he’s unknowingly
risking his own life. And popular Italian actress Braschi infuses
into Dora a mature sensibility that lends focus to Guido’s
unfocused exuberance. But make no mistake "Beautiful" belongs first
and foremost to Benigni. Especially in the movie’s relatively
innocuous first half, the gifted actor proves why he is one of
Italy’s all-time box-office champs.
Here he displays an astonishing variety of comedic talent Â
from virtuoso physical humor to Chaplinesque ingenuity at weaseling
out of sticky situations to romantic pathos. His pathetic (and
ultimately successful) attempts at winning Nora’s heart are
absolutely hilarious.
But while Benigni’s effervescence and charm carries
"Beautiful’s" pleasantly entertaining first half, the actor’s
acting, writing and directing abilities are really put to the test
during the film’s darker movements. In the end, Benigni proves
himself gifted in all areas.
If "Beautiful" were simply the story of a condemned Jew trying
to keep his boy and himself away from the murderous Nazis, it would
be interesting enough. But because something more elemental is at
stake here  Giosue’s innocence  the film takes on a
universal relevance. Guido faces the impossible task that all
parents have  keeping their children innocent of the ways of
the world for as long as possible, whether it be by deferring
current questions about oral sex, perpetuating the existence of
Santa Claus or (in Guido’s case) convincing his son that the
concentration camp is really just an elaborate set-up.
"Beautiful" ultimately glorifies the sanctity of innocence and
youthful exuberance, but in doing so never becomes cloying or
nostalgic.
The concentration camp scenes are a pure marvel. Benigni
maneuvers his characters through a series of situations so
ingenious that the audience will willingly forgive the film for its
gloss-over of Nazi atrocities.
Benigni’s sheer energy and earnestness help people get caught up
in his plight to keep Giosue’s eyes and ears innocent.
The filmmakers chose to re-create "Beautiful’s" unnamed
concentration camp using an abandoned factory in the Terni region
of Italy.
Several visual shots in the film, especially those emphasizing
Giosue’s meekness against the massive brick structures, are
unforgettable.
If "Beautiful" does slip in one area, it is that Guido takes too
many unnecessary chances with his life while in the camp.
From what Holocaust survivors still say, chances were a luxury
they couldn’t afford.
But if Benigni occasionally diminishes the concentration camp’s
gravity to his audience, he does so in the appropriate spirit of
blissful innocence that Guido likewise strives so diligently to
keep his son in.
(Above) Director Roberto Benigni also stars in his new movie,
"Life is Beautiful."
(Left) Giorgio Cantarini plays
a six-year-old striving to remain innocent.
Photos courtesy of Miramax Films
Giorgio Cantarini stars in Roberto Benigni’s Life is
Beautiful.
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