Product Description

An inspired motion picture masterpiece, LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL was nominated for 7 Academy Awards(R) -- winning 3 Oscars, including one for Best Actor Robert Benigni. In this extraordinary tale, Guido (Benigni) -- a charming but bumbling waiter who's gifted with a colorful imagination and an irresistible sense of humor -- has won the heart of the woman he loves and created a beautiful life for his young family. But then, that life is threatened by World War II ... and Guido must rely on those very same strengths to save his beloved wife and son from an unthinkable fate! Honored with an overwhelming level of critical acclaim, this truly exceptional, utterly unique achievement will lift your spirits and capture your heart!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1418 in DVD
• Released on: 1999-11-09
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: Italian
• Subtitled in: English
• Dubbed in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 116 minutes

Amazon.com
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

From The New Yorker
Would that it were. The great, donkey-faced Italian clown Roberto Benigni attempts an ambitious fable of comedy's redemptive power. He plays an Italian Jew who keeps alive his little boy's innocence in a Nazi concentration camp by pretending that the routines of the camp are no more than an intricate game staged for his son's benefit. After all, Benigni appears to be saying, the Germans were indulging a fantasy, too-the fantasy of total control. But Benigni's ironic counter-reality undermines this movie, not the Nazis, who were beyond ridicule for the same reason that they were beyond rationality. Totalitarianism makes the fantastic literal-that is its demonic appeal. Benigni's jokes and games just aren't enough, and you leave the movie thinking that what's touching is not Benigni's ministrations to the little boy but his own need to believe in comedy as salvation. With Nicoletta Braschi as the hero's wife, and Giorgio Cantarini, who has the heartbreaking quality of the children in the old neorealist movies, as the boy. Set design by Danilo Donati. Cinematography by Tonino Delli Colli. In Italian. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Life is beautiful
Life is indeed beautiful and this wonderful movie by Roberto Begnini makes us stop to think about it, to admire it, to enjoy it, to love it, to come to the conclusion that, no matter how hard it is sometimes, it's always worth it! From my point of view, the core message of this masterpiece is the selfless love. Whenever we feel this kind of love, we will see that nothing else matters. We will have accomplished the highest goal a human being can be assigned to. That's also GOD's message for us and, amidst laughter, smiles, humor and tenderness, Roberto Begnini leads our thoughts to same conclusion. Watch it because you won't regret!

You need a box of tissues for this one
This is on my top 5 list of favorite movies. I can watch it over and over again. Everyone should see this movie.

One Unique Story - A Brief Rebuttal To Critics
I thought this was a touching and wonderfully creative film. Part comedy, part tragedy, "Life Is Beautiful" is a fictional tale that tackles an incredibly difficult subject, but does so primarily through omission.

Some reviewers criticize this movie as little more than "garbage" or even as "obscene" because it does not depict the raw horrors of the Holocaust. While I disagree with the negative assessments, this much is true: When you watch this film, you will not see the stark, brutal hell endured by the victims of Nazi evil - but that is precisely the point of this particular story. The horrors are left out by design.

"Life Is Beautiful" relates the story of Guido and his family through the eyes of his innocent young son, Joshua. It is assumed that we - the viewers - are already aware of what happened in that place and time. We know what the Nazis were doing; we know about the atrocities they committed and the plans they had for the Jewish people. But the point of the film is that Joshua never does!

In the movie, Guido protects his son by disguising - and yes, as an earlier reviewer wrote, he "sugar coats" - the terrible things they encounter while in Nazi hands. Through Guido's efforts, deportation becomes a "trip" for young Joshua, and internment in the camp becomes a "game". None of these things is ever a game for Guido or the other adults in the film, but they are always seen that way by the child.

It is precisely the lack of horror in Joshua's experience that allows him to cope and, ultimately, to survive with his innocence in tact - an outcome made possible only through the terrific ingenuity of his loving and fiercely protective father. The closing lines of the film, spoken by Joshua, sum it up very nicely: "This is my story. This is the sacrifice my father made. This was his gift to me."

"Life Is Beautiful" is a fictional tale with a Holocaust theme, but it is not all-encompassing. It does not seek to detail every horror of the Holocaust; it is not a historical survey of the event and does not pretend to be an educational resource. Not every Holocaust story can relate every aspect or every detail of what happened, but - like this one - not all are intended to.

I recommend this film to everyone, but urge that viewers take it for what it is: one unique story from one unique perspective.