La Vita e Bella (Life Is Beautiful) was the best movie made during the 1990's. No contest.
The film was nominated for about 5 Oscars (if you care about that sort of thing; personally, I'm still miffed at the Academy for snubbing Moulin Rouge last year). Benigni won best actor, the movie won best foreign film, and it was up for best picture.
Do not ever attempt to watch this movie with dubbing. Roberto Benigni's overwhelming enthusiasm must not be squelched by an American voice. After 5 or 10 minutes, the subtitles won't bother you anymore.
I love how, after completing the unorthodox wooing of Dora (who is Benigni's real life wife, by the way), Guido teaches his son to carry on the tradition--helping him to make everything a beautiful, surprising game for the mom (i.e. the "took a bath on Friday" scene). I'm also partial to the Nazi commander telling the prisoners that there will be no lollipops at the concentration camp.
Did anyone see the new Pinnocchio Benigni released over Christmas? I'm waiting for video (it came to the theatres dubbed), but I'm curious as to how it was received.
Posted by Micah Lewis at January 29, 2003 12:41 PM