Movie Review - Life Is Beautiful (1997)

Life Is Beautiful

Those of you following my blog must by now think I have some gross fascination with foreign films. I don't. Really. The first foreign film I saw was Das Boot in my tenth grade German class, so it wasn't really even of my own volition. The movie pictured to the left, Life Is Beautiful, was essentially the first foreign movie I "subjected" myself to. I had heard that this was a must-see movie and decided consequently to give it a try, just like with all the other "must-see" movies I've reviewed in the past couple of weeks. So, here we go...

I'm pretty sure anyone that has graduated high school has seen at least one movie about the Holocaust in their lifetime, whether they just...like the Holocaust, or because it was part of their English or History class. Either way, there are so many out there I can think of that all just get muddled together. This is one of those Holocaust movies that really stands out. It really is the most inspiring and heartwarming Holocaust story out there as far as I know.

Anyway, the film tells the story of a quirky little Italian man who works as a waiter at a hotel. He's very full of life and finds a woman at the very beginning who he falls in love with. And basically, the first segment of the film is just a little funny love story of him getting the girl from this other guy and marrying her and having a son and what not and it's just so darn CUUUUTE.

Some time after this little happy bit is over, the movie starts to incorporate small bits of shockingly subtle Nazi interference in the lives of the three main characters, with most of them just disguised as funny. All this suspense builds up to the father and son being taken to a work camp (they're Jewish, by the way), and the main character's wife (not Jewish) is so distraught that she follows them there and gets on the train, which is kinda cheesy and even frustrating.

The main part of this movie are the father's various efforts to convince his son that they are all just playing a big game at the concentration camp and that the son has to obey the rules to win. It's really thought-provoking, funny, and sad all at the same time, with unfortunately kind of a sad ending to "the game." I don't want to give much away, because there is a lot to this movie that is better to watch on your own rather than hear about.

After it's all said and done, though, this movie really shines from the heap of Holocaust movies out there. It manages to still be heartwarming and even funny in the midst of all of this turmoil and a father's struggle to preserve the innocence of his son. It's a great movie and I would recommend it to anyone.

Next review: The Shining (1980)