Best Family flick of all times’ .. the Oscar winning Italian movie “La Vita e bella”, translated into English as “Life is Beautiful”. Roberto Benigni masterpiece ageless classic !!
There is something about this movie, which would make an ordinary person smile, amidst flowing tears - the world’s only “comic tragedy”. That is the kind of magic the movie weaves. The story is simple; it’s about an ordinary Jew book-keeper Guido, who along with his son Joshua (the English pronunciation) and wife Dora, was taken to the dreaded German concentration camps during the fag end of the Second World War.
The plot, set up against one of the darkest episodes of human tragedy, seemed to utter in a fresh lease of hope into everyone’s life.
In the movie Guido was never for once let his son realize the perilous and uncertain future they are thrown into; but instead makes him believe that their entire ‘stay’ in those Nazi camps were a part of a great game they were playing and at the end of which he would be getting a fantastic prize. Guido’s imaginary world not only kept his child happy and spirited even in those troubled times, but also gave many of his co-prisoners hope, when there was none. The movie is all about how laughter and humor can keep you going when everything else seems to have failed you. And it tells you that it is your perception of life which will make your world better or worse for you. Life is indeed very beautiful, at least as long as you want to be!
Great movie to watch with your wife and kid. Or when you are totally alone.
