Life Is Beautiful
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Life Is Beautiful (originally La Vita è bella) is a 1997 Italian language film which tells the story of an Italian Jew, Guido Orefice (played by Roberto Benigni), who lives in a romantic fairy tale, but must learn how to use that dreamy quality to survive a concentration camp with his young son Joshua (played by Giorgio Cantarini). Guido tries to comfort Joshua by pretending that their imprisonment is just an elaborate game. The film also stars Nicoletta Braschi.
Several key scenes were filmed in the concentration camp at Auschwitz in Poland.
The movie was written by Vincenzo Cerami and Benigni, and directed by Benigni.
Benigni was publicly lauded by Jewish groups for embracing and publicizing the Holocaust. (See also Holocaust denial.)
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Plot
The first half of the movie is a whimsical, romantic comedy and often slapstick. Guido, a young Italian Jew, arrives in a big city where he sets up a bookstore. He also romances Dora, whom he steals - at her engagement - from her rude, loud fiance. Several years pass, in which Guido and Dora have a son, Joshua.
In the second half of the movie, Guido, his uncle, and Joshua are taken to a concentration camp. In an attempt at keeping up Joshua's spirits, he convinces him that the camp is just a game - a game in which the first person to get a thousand points wins a tank. He convinces Joshua that the camp guards are mean because they want the tank for themselves, that all the other children are hiding in order to win the game, and puts off every attempt of Joshua's ending the game and returning home by convincing him that they are in the lead for the tank. Somehow, despite being surrounded by rampant death and disease, Joshua doesn't question this fiction. Guido maintains this story right until the end, when - in the chaos caused by the American advance drawing near - he tells his son to stay in a pillbox until everybody has left, this being the final test before the tank is his. Guido is killed in the night as he is discovered searching for Dora in the female section of the camp. Joshua survives, thinks he's won the game when an American tank arrives to liberate the camp, and finds his mother.
Music
The music in Life Is Beautiful was written by Nicola Piovani, and performed by his small orchestra. For this, Piovani won an Oscar for best original score.
Awards
Life Is Beautiful won Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Roberto Benigni), Best Foreign Language Film and Best Music, Original Dramatic Score. It was nominated for Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen.