Life Is Beautiful (1997)
"La vita è bella" (original title)

A Jewish man has a wonderful romance with the help of his humour, but must use that same quality to protect his son in a Nazi death camp.

Directors:

Roberto Benigni, Rod Dean

Writers:

Vincenzo Cerami (story), Roberto Benigni (story)

Stars:

Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giorgio Cantarini

Top 250 #50 | Won 3 Oscars. Another 55 wins & 31 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Roberto Benigni	...	Guido
Nicoletta Braschi	...	Dora
Giorgio Cantarini	...	Joshua
Giustino Durano	...	Uncle Eliseo
Sergio Bini Bustric	...	Ferruccio (as Sergio Bustric)
Marisa Paredes	...	Dora's Mother
Horst Buchholz	...	Doctor Lessing (as Horst Bucholz)
Giuliana Lojodice	...	School Principal
Amerigo Fontani	...	Rodolfo
Pietro De Silva	...	Bartolomeo
Francesco Guzzo	...	Vittorino
Raffaella Lebboroni	...	Elena
Claudio Alfonsi	...	Rodolfo's Friend
Gil Baroni	...	Prefect
Massimo Bianchi	...	Man with Key

Storyline

In 1930s Italy, a carefree Jewish book keeper named Guido starts a fairy tale life by courting and marrying a lovely woman from a nearby city. Guido and his wife have a son and live happily together until the occupation of Italy by German forces. In an attempt to hold his family together and help his son survive the horrors of a Jewish Concentration Camp, Guido imagines that the Holocaust is a game and that the grand prize for winning is a tank.

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Plot Keywords:

jewish | tank | italy | waiter | restaurant | 

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Taglines:

An unforgettable fable that proves love, family and imagination conquer all.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for holocaust-related thematic elements

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian German English

Release Date:

12 February 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

Life Is Beautiful

Filming Locations:

Ronciglione, Viterbo, Lazio, Italy

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

£87,818 (UK) (12 February 1999)

Gross:

$57,598,247 (USA) (1 October 1999)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cecchi Gori Group Tiger Cinematografica, Melampo Cinematografica, Cecchi Gori Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

116 min 118 min (English dubbed)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Roberto Benigni's Oscar for best actor marked only the second time that an actor had directed himself in an Academy Award winning performance. The other was Laurence Olivier for Hamlet.

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Goofs

When Dora stands up on her bed in the barracks and goes to the window to hear Guido's phonograph, some technical cable and the shadow of the crew can be seen on the left side of the screen.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Giosué Orefice: [narrating as an adult] This is a simple story... but not an easy one to tell.

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Connections

Referenced in Shrek (2001)

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Soundtracks

"Belle nuit (Barcarolle)"
(1881)
from opera "Les contes d'Hoffmann"
Music by Jacques Offenbach
Libretto by Jules Barbier (uncredited)
Performed by Montserrat Caballé (as M. Caballé), soprano, Shirley Verrett (as S. Verret),
mezzo-soprano
Recorded by RCA Victor
New Philharmonia Orchestra (uncredited)
Conducted by Anton Guadagno (uncredited)

User Reviews

One of the best movies ever.

This is one of those movies that have a lasting effect on you. After watching it, I found that it has less to do with the Holocaust and more to do with the human feelings and the beautiful relationship of a father and his son. The holocaust provides the ultimate context, that brings and highlights the story and adds yet another deep dimension to the movie. No such piece of art has ever before combined laughter and tears of sadness in me before and that is the miracle of the movie. The realism of the movie is not its strong point, but then again it is not supposed to be; this helps in bringing the audiences to a state of mind away from reality, focusing on the feelings generated by forgetting about all external events and developments of the war. Despite that, the movie does not fail to point out an element of the nazi psychology demonstrated by the doctor who was obsessed with riddles. This portrayed the nazi 'state of mind' (if ever such an expression existed) as a sick mentally disturbed state. Life is really beautiful as you watch Guido's relentless efforts to make a lovely exciting experience of the concentration camp to his son. You get exhausted just watching him going through his painful day and yet you smile as he speaks to his son and makes him laugh. One can go on forever describing the creativity of this movie, but one will not be able to capture all its beauty in writing.