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
EAN5055201816627
eBay Product ID (ePID)105630654
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
LanguageItalian
Subtitle LanguageEnglish
Run Time122 Mins
Release Year2011
FormatDVD
FeaturesWith Subtitles
GenreDrama, General
Additional Product Features
Number of Discs1
CertificatePG
Country/Region of ManufactureItaly
ComposerNicola Piovani
Production DesignerDanilo Donati
AwardsBest Actor In A Leading Role 1998 - Roberto Benigni, Best Foreign Film 1999 -
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...
ScreenwriterVincenzo Cerami, Roberto Benigni
Art DirectorDanilo Donati
Costume DesignerDanilo Donati
Sound sourceDolby Digital
EditorSimona Paggi
Movie/TV TitleLife Is Beautiful
Director of PhotographyTonino Delli Colli