Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
EXTRAORDINARY...BOTH WONDROUSLY JOYOUS AND INFINITELY SAD..., August 8, 2005
This is one of the best and most creative films ever made. Totally inventive in concept, the story revolves around an exuberant and romantic Italian man named Guido, who also happens to be Jewish. He sweeps the woman of his dreams,his "Principessa", off her feet. They marry and have an adorable little boy whom they dearly love. Unfortunately, this all happens during World War II in fascist Italy.
Ultimately, Guido and their son are whisked away to a concentration/work camp on their young son's birthday. Meanwhile, his wife and the boy's mother, coming home and expecting to find a birthday celebration in progress, discovers, instead, that the inevitable has occurred. She tracks them down to the train that is taking prisoners to a work camp and, after confirming that they are on board, insists upon boarding the train herself, so that she may remain close to them. They see her board the train and know that she is with them.
In order to get his son through this horror as best he can, Guido tells his son that they are involved in a real life game to win a tank, knowing that the boy had wanted a toy tank for his birthday. Talk about a reality survival game! In any case, his son is young enough to fall for it and gets with the program as only the very young can. What follows is a series of inventive scenarios which tells the viewer of the lengths that the father goes in order to keep his son quiet, obedient, entertained, and safe from harm. All along, the father has his son believing in the game and playing to win, to the point that the boy believes that they are actually in first place to win the tank.
While this may sound like an odd venue in which to find oneself laughing, that is exactly what the viewer does. At the same time, the film is achingly poignant, and the end is infinitely sad. Guido is played to perfection by comedic star and filmmaker Roberto Benigni, who also directed this masterpiece. His on screen wife and comedic foil is played by his real life main squeeze, Nicoletta Braschi. The son is played with wondrous innocence by the totally adorable Giorgio Cantarini. This is an award caliber film that saw Benigni deservedly capture Oscars for Best Actor and Best Foreign Language Film.
All in all, this film will leave the viewer both laughing and crying. It is simply a great movie. Bravo!
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