La Vita è Bella

La Vita è Bella, or Life Is Beautiful, is a film set in Italy during World War Two. The film focuses on a Jewish family who get taken away to a concentration camp and separated. The father who is named Guido does all he can to protect his small son from the true horrors of what a concentration camp holds. Guido decides to make it in to a game and tells his son that if they get 1000 points they will win a tank. 

The first half of the film is more of a slapstick affair, whereas the second half, although still funny, has parts that completely pulls at the heart strings, or rather rips them out. I have never had a film that has made me cry so much from both funny and sad parts. 

Some people judged the film for taking away from the horrors of the Holocaust. I personally believe the film to be not necessarily about the Holocaust, but more about the love a father has for his child. Guido will do anything he can to protect his son and this eventually leads to tragedy. 

This film is one of the best films that I have ever seen. The characters all gel so well together, and I think it helps that the writer Roberto Benigni has his real life wife Nicoletta Braschi playing his wife in the film. The child actor who plays their son Giosuѐ is also superb. As a small child who wouldn't know the traumas of the Holocaust, he acts beautifully. 

I would recommend this film to anybody. It is best to watch it in Italian with English subtitles as the dubbed version of the film takes away from some of the amazing acting. It is one of the saddest, but also one of the best films, and it is easy to see why it won so many Oscars. A must see.