Product Information
Conjuring keys and hats out of thin air, Guido (Roberto Benigni), a clever Jewish-Italian waiter, successfully courts Dora (Nicoletta Braschi), a beautiful local woman, in Fascist pre-WWII Italy. His life, however, is turned upside down a few years later when he, Dora, and their young son, Giosue (Giorgio Cantarini), are sent to a Nazi concentration camp. Refusing to give up hope, Guido tries to protect his son's innocence by pretending that their imprisonment is just an elaborate game, with the grand prize being a tank.<BR>For years the box-office champ in Italy and the country's most beloved slapstick comic, the Chaplinesque Benigni took a huge risk with LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL. Many people worried that the film would be as offensive as plopping a cartoon character in Auschwitz. (A similar work--THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED, a Jerry Lewis film about a comedian in a concentration camp--turned out to be a disaster two decades earlier.) Although LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL did provoke some controversy, many people found the film to be a poignant, tragicomic story that profoundly reaffirmed the humanity of concentration camp victims. The film became the highest grossing foreign language film in the U.S. and established Benigni as an international star.Product Identifiers
ProducerGianluigi Braschi, Elda Ferri
EAN5056453200158
eBay Product ID (ePID)3048564556
Product Key Features
ActorNicoletta Braschi, Marisa Paredes, Roberto Benigni, Guistino Durano, Lydia Alfonsi, Sergio Bini Bustric, Giorgio Cantarini, Horst Buchholz
Film/TV TitleLife Is Beautiful
DirectorRoberto Benigni
FormatDVD
Release Year2020
LanguageItalian
Additional Product Features
CertificatePG
Number of Discs1
Country/Region of ManufactureItaly
ComposerNicola Piovani
Production DesignerDanilo Donati
ReviewsPremiere - ...[Benigni] puts a serious spin on his comic genius..., Entertainment Weekly - ...[Benigni] succeeds, to an extraordinary degree, in reviving the neo-Technicolor lushness and affectionate screwball rhythms of postwar Hollywood....A delicate romance spiked with antifascist farce..., New York Times - ...Mr. Benigni effectively creates a situation in which comedy is courage. And he draws from this an unpretentious, enormously likable film that plays with history both seriously and mischievously..., Sight and Sound - ...[A] magnificent film....Real emotional strength...
AwardsBest Actor In A Leading Role 1998 - Roberto Benigni, Best Foreign Film 1999 -
Art DirectorDanilo Donati
ScreenwriterVincenzo Cerami, Roberto Benigni
Costume DesignerDanilo Donati
Sound sourceDolby Digital
Movie/TV TitleLife Is Beautiful
EditorSimona Paggi
Director of PhotographyTonino Delli Colli