Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
Director
Roberto Benigni
Cast
Roberto Benigni,
Nicoletta Braschi,
Giorgio Cantarini,
Giustino Durano,
Amerigo Fontani,
Sergio Bini Bustric
Genre
Comedy,
Drama
A touching story of an Italian bookseller of Jewish ancestry who lives in his own little fairy tale. His creative and happy life comes to an abrupt halt when his entire family is deported to a concentration camp during World War II. While locked up, he tells stories to his son to transform their bleak reality into fantasy.
This film really showcases how powerful family can be and how much a parent is willing to do for their child. Set in one of the most horrific times in history, the film presents a bittersweet narrative as the father shields his son from their harsh reality. No spoilers but get your Kleenex ready, I certainly needed plenty!
Film.com by Elizabeth Weitzman
Benigni, with great help from young Cantarini, has crafted a work of such complexity that you may find both your brain and your heart simply overloaded. Which, of course, is the rarely achieved goal of all art.
Portland Oregonian by Shawn Levy
One of the greatest films about the civilian experience of war ever made anywhere.
Chicago Tribune by Michael Wilmington
A deeply moving blend of cold terror and rapturous hilarity. Lovingly crafted by Italy's top comedian and most popular filmmaker, it's that rare comedy that takes on a daring and ambitious subject and proves worthy of it.
TNT RoughCut by Christopher Brandon
Its unique message about laughing in the face of evil clearly reveals that life is beautiful.
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
Finds the right notes to negotiate its delicate subject matter.
New York Daily News by Jami Bernard
A rare blend of comedy and tenderness whose point is not the horrors of war but the lengths a parent will go to protect his child's innocence.
USA Today by Mike Clark
To see someone even attempt bittersweet treatment of this subject is surprising, but to largely pull it off is a major feat.
The New York Times by Janet Maslin
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. Piety has no place here, nor do tears until the final reel. Life is Beautiful plays by its own rules
The A.V. Club
The concept is not so much nihilistic as it is realistic, and the fact that Benigni has made such fine distinctions so powerfully clear is amazing and moving.
The New York Times by Elvis Mitchell
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. Piety has no place here, nor do tears until the final reel. Life is Beautiful plays by its own rules
Film.com by Sean Means
It's a high-wire act without a net, and Benigni pulls it off with astounding grace and sensitivity.
The A.V. Club by Joshua Klein
The concept is not so much nihilistic as it is realistic, and the fact that Benigni has made such fine distinctions so powerfully clear is amazing and moving.
Film.com by Peter Brunette
While most reviewers will accuse it of sentimentality (a charge that is justified), audiences, who don't feel the need to appear rigorous and tough-minded all the time, will flock to it in droves.
Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman
Starts out as sentimental whimsy and ends as sentimental kitsch.
Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt
Has good intentions, but its exaggerated celebration of quick-witted improvisation ultimately trivializes the human and historical horrors evoked by the story.
San Francisco Chronicle by Mick LaSalle
Benigni sets out to do the impossible.
Chicago Reader by Jonathan Rosenbaum
The indifference of the proceedings and the hero's slapstick behavior to the everyday realities of the camps borders on the nauseating.
Slate by David Edelstein
Benigni's movie made me want to throw up.
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