Life Is Beautiful
Italian film poster
Directed by	Roberto Benigni
Produced by	Gianluigi Braschi Elda Ferri
Written by	Roberto Benigni Vincenzo Cerami
Starring	Roberto Benigni Nicoletta Braschi Giorgio Cantarini Giustino Durano
Editing by	Simona Paggi
Distributed by	Miramax Films (USA)
Release date(s)	20 December 1997 23 October 1998 6 November 1998 26 December 1998 12 February 1999 5 March 1999 8 April 1999
Running time	116 minutes
Language	Italian, German, English
IMDb profile

Life Is Beautiful (Italian: La vita è bella) is a 1997 Italian language film which tells the story of a Jewish Italian, Guido Orefice (played by Roberto Benigni, who also directed and co-wrote the film), who must learn how to use his fertile imagination to help his son survive their internment in a Nazi concentration camp. The year 1997 in film involved some significant events Events Summer - Production begins on Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. Italian Jews can be used in a broad sense to mean all Jews living in Italy or in a narrower sense to mean the ancient community who use the Italian rite as distinct from newer Roberto Remigio Benigni, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (born 27 October 1952 is an Academy Award -winning Italian actor writer and director of Nazism, which was a short name for National Socialism (Nationalsozialismus refers primarily to the Ideology and practices of the National Socialist German Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people commonly in large groups without trial

Title

The title derives from Leon Trotsky's last testament; while in exile in Mexico, expecting to die shortly from high blood pressure (or from agents loyal to his rival Joseph Stalin), Trotsky wrote,

"Natasha has just come up to the window from the courtyard and opened it wider so that the air may enter more freely into my room. Leon Trotsky ( Russian:, Lev Davidovich Trotsky, also transliterated Leo, Lyev, Trotskii, Trotski, Trotskij The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. Joseph Stalin ( ნამდვილი გვარი ჯუღაშვილი|Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili; March 5 1953 was General Secretary of the Communist Party Natalia Ivanovna Sedova ( April 5, 1882 &ndash January 23, 1962) is best known as the second wife of Leon Trotsky, the Russian I can see the bright green strip of grass beneath the wall, and the clear blue sky above the wall, and sunlight everywhere. Life is beautiful. Let the future generations cleanse it of all evil, oppression and violence, and enjoy it to the full. "

Plot

The first half of the movie is a whimsical, romantic comedy and often slapstick. Slapstick is a type of Comedy involving exaggerated physical violence or activities which exceed the boundaries of common sense such as a character being hit in the face with Guido (Roberto Benigni), a young Italian Jew, arrives in Arezzo where he sets up a bookstore. Roberto Remigio Benigni, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (born 27 October 1952 is an Academy Award -winning Italian actor writer and director of Arezzo ( Latin Arretium) is a city in central Italy, capital of the province of the same name, located in Guido is both funny and charismatic, especially when he romances Dora (Italian, but not Jewish; portrayed by Benigni's actual wife Nicoletta Braschi), whom he steals – at her engagement – from her rude and loud fiancé. Nicoletta Braschi (born August 10, 1960) is an Italian actress best known for her work with her husband actor and director Roberto Benigni Several years pass, in which Guido and Dora have a son, Joshua (written Giosué in the Italian version; portrayed by Giorgio Cantarini). Giorgio Cantarini ( December 5, 1992) is an Italian Child actor who to date has appeared in two Academy Award winning films 1997's In the film, Joshua is around five years old. However, both the beginning and ending of the film is narrated by an older Joshua.

In the second half, Guido, Guido's uncle Eliseo, and Joshua are taken to a concentration camp on Joshua's birthday. Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people commonly in large groups without trial Dora demands to join her family and is permitted to do so. In an attempt to keep up Joshua's spirits, Guido convinces him that the camp is just a game – a game in which the first person to get 1000 points wins a tank. A tank is a tracked, Armoured fighting vehicle designed for Front-line combat which combines Operational mobility and tactical He tells Joshua that if you complain for hunger you lose points, while quiet boys who hide from the camp guards earn points. He convinces Joshua that the camp guards are mean because they want the tank for themselves and that all the other children are hiding in order to win the game. He puts off every attempt of Joshua ending the game and returning home by convincing him that they are in the lead for the tank. Despite being surrounded by rampant death and people and all their sicknesses, Joshua does not question this fiction both because of his father's convincing performance and his own innocence.

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 sweatbox until everybody has left, this being the final test before the tank is his. The Box, also known as a hot box or sweatbox, is a method of Solitary confinement used in Humid and Arid regions as a method of After trying to find Dora, Guido is caught, taken away, and is shot by a Nazi guard, but not before making his son laugh one last time by imitating the Nazi guard as if the two of them are marching around the camp together. Joshua manages to survive, and thinks he has won the game when an American tank arrives to liberate the camp, and he is reunited with his mother.

Music

The movie twice includes music from Jacques Offenbach's operetta Les Contes d'Hoffmann (Tales of Hoffmann), with its melody "Barcarola". Jacques Offenbach (born Jacob Offenbach 20 June 1819 in Cologne &ndash 5 October 1880 in Paris) was a German Operetta is a genre of light Opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter It is first played at an opera house during Guido's and Dora's courtship; later, Guido surreptitiously plays it in an effort to communicate hope to his wife and others.

Cast

• Roberto Benigni - Guido Orefice
• Nicoletta Braschi - Dora
• Giorgio Cantarini - Giosué Orefice
• Giustino Durano - Eliseo Orefice
• Sergio Bini Bustric - Ferruccio Papini
• Marisa Paredes - Dora's Mother
• Horst Buchholz - Doctor Lessing
• Lidia Alfonsi - Guicciardini
• Amerigo Fontani - Rodolfo
• Pietro De Silva - Bartolomeo
• Francesco Guzzo - Vittorino

Awards

The movie made the Cannes Film Festival in 1998, winning the Grand Prize of the Jury. Roberto Remigio Benigni, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (born 27 October 1952 is an Academy Award -winning Italian actor writer and director of Nicoletta Braschi (born August 10, 1960) is an Italian actress best known for her work with her husband actor and director Roberto Benigni Giorgio Cantarini ( December 5, 1992) is an Italian Child actor who to date has appeared in two Academy Award winning films 1997's Giustino Durano ( May 5, 1923 in Brindisi Italy - February 18, 2002 in Bologna Italy) was a long lasting movie actor who María Luisa Paredes Bartolomé, (born April 3, 1946 in Madrid) better known in show business as Marisa Paredes, is a Spanish actress Horst Werner Buchholz ( December 4, 1933 – March 3, 2003) was a German Actor, best remembered for his part in The Cannes Film Festival (le Festival de Cannes founded in 1946 is one of the world's oldest most influential and prestigious Film festivals alongside Venice, The Grand Prix is an award of the Cannes Film Festival bestowed by the jury of the festival on one of the competing feature films It then went on to win Academy Awards for Best Music, Original Dramatic Score and Best Foreign Language Film. The Academy Award for Original Music Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars handed out annually by the U Benigni won Best Actor in both the foreign film category and overall for his role. Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS to recognize The film was additionally nominated for Academy Awards for Directing, Film Editing, Best Picture, and Best Original Screenplay. The Academy Award for Achievement in Directing (Best Director is one of the Awards of Merit presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS to The Academy Award for Film Editing was first given for films issued in 1934 The Academy Award for Best Motion Picture is one of the Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS to artists working The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best script not based upon previously published material

See also

• Train of Life (1998), Directed by: Radu Mihaileanu
• The Day the Clown Cried (1972), an unfinished film by Jerry Lewis

External links

• Life Is Beautiful at the Internet Movie Database
• Life is Beautiful at the Arts & Faith Top 100 Spiritually Significant Films list