Category: Drama - Foreign Film - Italian - Foreign Film [Dub Or Subtitle] - International - Movie
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DVD Life Is Beautiful
Italy's rubber-faced funnyman Roberto Benigni accomplishes the impossible in his World War II comedy Life Is Beautiful: he shapes a simultaneously hilarious and haunting comedy out of the tragedy of the Holocaust. An international sensation and the most successful foreign language film in U.S. history, the picture also earned director-cowriter-star Benigni Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Actor. He plays the Jewish country boy Guido, a madcap romantic in Mussolini's Italy who wins the heart of his sweetheart (Benigni's real-life sweetie, Nicoletta Braschi) and raises a darling son (the adorable Giorgio Cantarini) in the shadow of fascism. When the Nazis ship the men off to a concentration camp in the waning days of the war, Guido is determined to shelter his son from the evils around them and convinces him they're in an elaborate contest to win (of all things) a tank. Guido tirelessly maintains the ruse with comic ingenuity, even as the horrors escalate and the camp's population continues to dwindle--all the more impetus to keep his son safe, secure, and, most of all, hidden. Benigni walks a fine line mining comedy from tragedy and his efforts are pure fantasy--he accomplishes feats no man could realistically pull off--both of which have drawn fire from a few critics. Yet for all its wacky humor and inventive gags, Life Is Beautiful is a moving and poignant tale of one father's sacrifice to save not just his young son's life but his innocence in the face of one of the most evil acts ever perpetrated by the human race. --Sean Axmaker
I saw this movie as a requirement for school. I had no idea what it was about going into it, all I knew was that it was a foreign film. So it hit me very hard after leaving the theater. I was, to say the least, caught off guard.
The first half of the movie is lighthearted, funny, sweet with Roberto Benigni shining (he just makes you love him). Without going into the plot which can be read up top, the second half of the movie is set in a Nazi concentration camp. Which is, of course a subject that is not funny at all.
Benigni didn't make this movie as a historical documentary (to those that may argue that the story is unrealistic). As viewers we are spared the horror of what the camps may have really been like for the sake of the true intent of the movie which in my opinion is to show how a father spares his young son the reality of where they really are, out of love and through laughter and imagination. I might make it sound hokey but the whole package is genius.
Overall, it's a lovely movie but don't expect lighthearted comedy. It's very bittersweet. (for lack of a better word) There are some truly sad parts. One of my all time favorite movies....I had tears streaming down my cheeks when I left the theater.
Life IS Beautiful...If You want it to be
I love this movie...I watch it every chance I get.The first half of the movie shows ,the way you present yourself to others creates a positive or negative reality.The second half of the movie deals with how things are presented to us and how we react to those things...creating a positive or negative reality..If a young boy can be made to feel safe,happy and loved in a concentration camp anything is possible...LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL......
An absolute masterpiece
This film is better than anything else I've reviewed this week, or in a very long time. But you want details, so here we go.
Director, star and co-writer Roberto Benigni. 1998 Cannes Film Festival winner. Winner of three Oscars. Italian with English subtitles.
Forget every word I've ever written to the effect that romantic comedy is dead. The first half of this will make you laugh. Often. The second half turns darkly humorous, and I guarantee you've never seen anything like it. It'll rip your guts out and haunt you for weeks. The blurb mentions "satire, physical comedy, social commentary and a touch of the surreal." Yep, that's what I saw. The trailer, in English, summarizes it well in only 30 seconds. I'd have sworn that was impossible. Lemme hire this guy to write my book synopses.
Italian star and filmmaker Massimo Troisi was dying of heart failure even before this film, his dream project, began production, and he prevailed upon British director Michael Radford (White Mischief) to see him and the film through to the end. (The 40-year-old Troisi, a beloved comic actor in Italy, died the day production wrapped.) Based on true events, Troisi plays a shy postman who strikes up an unlikely friendship with exiled Chilean poet Pablo Neruda (Philippe Noiret). Through Neruda's example and tutelage, the hero learns to think of his Italian fishing village in lyrical terms, as well as how to talk to women and even find the strength to take his political stands. Sweet as it is, the film finally pushes beyond its charming borders to become an even more complex and... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Massimo Troisi Director(s): Michael Radford DVD Release Date: Released the 14 March 2000 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Vittorio De Sica's remarkable 1947 drama of desperation and survival in Italy's devastating post-war depression earned a special Oscar for its affecting power. Shot in the streets and alleys of Rome, De Sica uses the real-life environment of contemporary life to frame his moving drama of a desperate father whose new job delivering cinema posters is threatened when a street thief steals his bicycle. Too poor to buy another, he and his son take to the streets in an impossible search for his bike. Cast with nonactors and filled with the real street life of Rome, this landmark film helped define the Italian neorealist approach with its mix of real life details, poetic imagery, and warm sentimentality. De Sica uses the wandering pair to witness the lives of everyday folks, but ultimately he... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Lamberto Maggiorani - Enzo Staiola Director(s): Vittorio De Sica DVD Release Date: Released the 24 November 1998 Usually ships in 24 hours
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I enjoyed Ciao, Professore! very much. It was poignant, charming, and humorous. Coming from an Italian background, I have recommended it to family and friends, especially Italians! More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Paolo Villaggio - Isa Danieli Director(s): Lina Wertmüller DVD Release Date: Released the 13 January 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Italy's magical fantasy of midlife crisis and rebirth in Venice, the city of lovers, swept the Italian film awards and charmed all of Europe. Director Silvio Soldini turns the tourist mecca of piazzas, canals, and stone bridges into a quaint little village out of time and fills the film with the charm of the city and the gentle quirks of his delightful cast. Licia Maglietta is winning as Rosalba, the frustrated and ignored middle-aged mom who impulsively takes a vacation from her family. She hitchhikes to Venice and falls for lonely, suicidal Icelandic waiter-poet Bruno Ganz (whose soulful, sad eyes recall his fallen angel from Wings of Desire), blossoming as she rediscovers her smile and joy for life. Sweetly sexy and beautifully shot, this story of second chances may not be... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Licia Maglietta - Bruno Ganz Director(s): Silvio Soldini DVD Release Date: Released the 26 March 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Winner of the prestigious Golden Palm award at the 2002 Cannes film festival, The Pianist is the film that Roman Polanski was born to direct. A childhood survivor of Nazi-occupied Poland, Polanski was uniquely suited to tell the story of Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish Jew and concert pianist (played by Adrien Brody) who witnessed the Nazi invasion of Warsaw, miraculously eluded the Nazi death camps, and survived throughout World War II by hiding among the ruins of the Warsaw ghetto. Unlike any previous dramatization of the Nazi holocaust, The Pianist steadfastly maintains its protagonist's singular point of view, allowing Polanski to create an intimate odyssey on an epic wartime scale, drawing a direct parallel between Szpilman's tenacious, primitive existence and the... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Adrien Brody - Thomas Kretschmann - Frank Finlay Director(s): Roman Polanski DVD Release Date: Released the 27 May 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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