26 lines
3.4 KiB
Plaintext
26 lines
3.4 KiB
Plaintext
i remember hearing about this film when it first appeared at cannes over a year ago , picking up the grand jury prize at the festival .
|
|
'holocaust comedy receives standing ovation' , the headlines read .
|
|
intrigued by this statement , i looked up information on the film and found that , sure enough , life is beautiful is in fact a comedy about the greatest atrocity of the last thousand years .
|
|
even though the movie was extremely well-received by critics and public alike , i couldn't help but be disgusted at this notion ; human tragedy is not something i feel should be celebrated .
|
|
only now do i see the error of my ways .
|
|
after finally viewing the film for myself after avoiding it for some time , it became clear that it is not , as the headlines proclaimed , a " holocaust comedy " ; on the contrary , life is beautiful does not even really depict the graphic events that took place in nazi deathcamps .
|
|
rather , it focuses on the relationship between a father and his son , who he is trying desperately to shield from the horrors of their situation .
|
|
roberto benigni ( who also wrote and directed the movie ) stars as guido orefice , a chaplin-inspired clown and all round jolly guy who , as the film opens , is vying for the affections of an attractive school teacher ( nicoletta braschi , benigni real life spouse ) .
|
|
through the course of the first hour or so , we see guido striving to get the attention of this " beautiful princess " , as he calls her .
|
|
employing the magic of laughter , the italian comedian wins her heart and together , they raise a young boy named giosue ( child actor giorgio cantarini ) .
|
|
life treats them well until hitler's minions rise to power , and the family is whisked away to a german camp , where guido becomes convinced that he must upholds his son's innocence no matter what the sacrifice .
|
|
granted , it contains some uproariously funny moments both in and out of the concentration camp , but it does not pull a " hogan's heros " and make light of the slaughtering of some six million innocent jews .
|
|
somehow , it achieves hilarity without disrespecting it's gravely serious subject .
|
|
so , we've established that life is beautiful is not a " holocaust comedy " .
|
|
but , there is another complete misrepresentation of this material that really disturbs me .
|
|
the film , despite critic's declarations of it being a " triumph of the human spirit " , is no such thing ; not in my eyes , anyway .
|
|
some have called the story an " affirmation of the beauty of life " , but i say it is a very dark and bleak statement about man's capability of denial masquerading as an endearing comedy .
|
|
the film's ending has been recognized as the most entirely uplifting moment of any film released recently , but i found it to be truly discerning and upsetting .
|
|
essentially , life is beautiful is quite possibly the greatest hoax in the history of film .
|
|
however , i am not denying the movie's greatness .
|
|
believe me , it's fantastic .
|
|
i'm just saying that i think benigni did something different than what most people are interpreting it as .
|
|
but perhaps i'm reading more into the movie than is really there .
|
|
maybe the film's brilliance relies on the idea that the viewer can interpret the meaning of it in any way they see fit .
|
|
in fact , maybe roberto benigni has made a film that is the sole argument for the old saying that you get out of a movie exactly what you put into it .
|