(1997) ★
Sky Movies Select: Thursday 8 October, 2.15pm
A father attempts to shield his young son from the stark realities of Nazi internment by making a game of it. Roberto Benigni’s queasy concentration camp comedy makes light of the 20th century’s darkest hour, entirely lacking the wit of Ernst Lubitch’s To Be or Not to Be and the rancour of Chaplin’s The Great Dictator.
Benigni’s wholly sentimental, extravagantly coarse and perversely calculated film is at best a dubious Forrest Gump-like mistake, the rantings of a deluded fool sabotaged by simple-minded slapstick. Like many narcissitic comedians, Benigni begs to be loved.
Which simply renders his incessant blatherings, echoed by the insistent music score, all the more resistible; and makes his weirdly offensive story a tawdry testament to the murdered six million. Five years after Spielberg’s brilliant Schindler’s List, the Academy gave Benigni Oscars for his script and acting. In the intervening years, they’ve probably been tempted to ask for them back.
Certificate: PG
Duration: 111min
Rotten Tomatoes – Life Is Beautiful
| Other Showings | Time & Date |
| Sky Movies Select | Friday, 9 October at 4:10AM |
| Sky Movies Select | Friday, 16 October at 9:50AM |
| Sky Movies Select | Saturday, 17 October at 4:30AM |
