Life Is Beautiful

The winner of Oscars for Best Actor and Best Foreign-Language Film, this Italian import has been widely misunderstood, with both critics and detractors referring to it as a heartfelt paean to the strength of a father's love for his child and to the tragic beauty of self-sacrifice. Look beyond the relentlessly inspiring surface, however, and you'll find a pointed, extremely disturbing parable about the human capacity for denial; despite the apparently triumphant conclusion, it's about as uplifting as an express elevator to Hell. Benigni, who co-wrote and directed as well as playing the lead, divides the film into two parts, each with a radically different tone: the first half, set in 1939, is a perfectly charming light romantic comedy, heavy on Chaplinesque bumbling and verbal pyrotechnics; the second, set in 1944-45, is considerably grimmer--hardly surprising, given that the majority of it takes place in an unnamed concentration camp, with a father (Benigni) attempting to shield his son from its horrors by pretending that they're competing in a strange game. Both sections are utterly magnificent, and the juxtaposition of the two is a masterstroke. Highly recommended. (M. D'Angelo)