| Life Is Beautiful | 
 enlarge | Actors: Claudio Alfonsi, Lidia Alfonsi, Gil Baroni, Massimo Bianchi, Sergio Bini Bustric
Studio: Miramax
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $10.51
You Save: $9.48 (47%)
New (54) Used (21) Collectible (3) from $9.68
Avg. Customer Rating:  651 reviews
Sales Rank: 641
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Letterboxed, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: Italian (Original Language), English (Subtitled), English (Dubbed)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 116
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
DVD Layers: 1
DVD Sides: 1
Picture Format: Letterbox
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: DISD17490D
ISBN: 0788816209
UPC: 717951003089
EAN: 9780788816208
ASIN: B00001U0DP
Theatrical Release Date: October 23, 1998
Release Date: November 9, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
A jewish man has a wonderful romance with the help of his humour but must use that same quality to protect his son in a nazi death camp. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 01/15/2002 Starring: Roberto Benigni Giustino Durano Run time: 114 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Roberto Benigni
Amazon.com
Italy's rubber-faced funnyman Roberto Benigni accomplishes the impossible in his World War II comedy Life Is Beautiful: he shapes a simultaneously hilarious and haunting comedy out of the tragedy of the Holocaust. An international sensation and the most successful foreign language film in U.S. history, the picture also earned director-cowriter-star Benigni Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Actor. He plays the Jewish country boy Guido, a madcap romantic in Mussolini's Italy who wins the heart of his sweetheart (Benigni's real-life sweetie, Nicoletta Braschi) and raises a darling son (the adorable Giorgio Cantarini) in the shadow of fascism. When the Nazis ship the men off to a concentration camp in the waning days of the war, Guido is determined to shelter his son from the evils around them and convinces him they're in an elaborate contest to win (of all things) a tank. Guido tirelessly maintains the ruse with comic ingenuity, even as the horrors escalate and the camp's population continues to dwindle--all the more impetus to keep his son safe, secure, and, most of all, hidden. Benigni walks a fine line mining comedy from tragedy and his efforts are pure fantasy--he accomplishes feats no man could realistically pull off--both of which have drawn fire from a few critics. Yet for all its wacky humor and inventive gags, Life Is Beautiful is a moving and poignant tale of one father's sacrifice to save not just his young son's life but his innocence in the face of one of the most evil acts ever perpetrated by the human race. --Sean Axmaker
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| Customer Reviews: Read 646 more reviews...
 Beautiful! January 1, 2009
This is a beautiful movie about the power of humor to bring hope and protect innocence in the face of unspeakable evil. Roberto Benigni's achievement is incredible: his performance is hilariously endearing, his screenplay brilliant, and his directing wonderfully atmospheric. Truly heartwarming.
 how to gain appreciation December 22, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Technically speaking, this movie share the same weaknesses of all the other Benigni's production: it's essentially a group of short gags assembled together more or less casually just to reach the proper length of a film.
As far as the content is concerned, most of the positive reviews run something like:
OK, don't seek historical accuracy in this film. This film is not about the holocaust primarily, it's purpose is not to document the holocaust. It is a film about family and the love of a father for his son. It is a film about how to survive in the most horrible conditions imaginable.
It seems to me they fail to grasp that this movie contains his own paradox. Out of a thousand way one can choose to stage "the love of a father for his son" Benigni picked up, not surprisingly, the holocaust, because he knew it was "the most horrible conditions imaginable", i.e. it's sooo touching and also the easiest way to get the audience on your side. On the other hand Benigni depicts a sort of watered, hilarious, Hogan heroes type of holocaust that is far from being "the most horrible conditions imaginable". Why? First because he is inherently a clown and that is the only way he knows to describe the facts of life, second because it would have been impossible to give the smallest bit of credibility to such a character amidst the horror of a real camp situation.
As a result, the film ends up giving no historical accuracy (actually is an insult to historical accuracy), and, much worse, sounding so fake also on the main characters side.
He simply was ready to take advantage of a real historical drama just as a background in order to give weight and gain support to a otherwise very inconsistent plot, script and mediocre acting.
This Movie is Beautiful December 20, 2008
This is definitely in my Top Ten Movies of all time. It was beautiful, inspiring, heart-warming, poignant, heart-breaking, laugh-out-loud, and gut-wrenching. Every character in the small cast was great, but Roberto Benigni was absolutely amazing. I watched in on Thanksgiving and urge you to watch it on a similar occasion; it is an incredibly inspiring film that stayed with me long after it ended.
Life is beautiful November 16, 2008
Life is indeed beautiful and this wonderful movie by Roberto Begnini makes us stop to think about it, to admire it, to enjoy it, to love it, to come to the conclusion that, no matter how hard it is sometimes, it's always worth it! From my point of view, the core message of this masterpiece is the selfless love. Whenever we feel this kind of love, we will see that nothing else matters. We will have accomplished the highest goal a human being can be assigned to. That's also GOD's message for us and, amidst laughter, smiles, humor and tenderness, Roberto Begnini leads our thoughts to same conclusion. Watch it because you won't regret!
You need a box of tissues for this one October 27, 2008
This is on my top 5 list of favorite movies. I can watch it over and over again. Everyone should see this movie.
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