La
Vita e bella (Life is beautiful) (1992) Roberto Benigni
I never watch a dubbed version of a movie when the
original version is available with English subtitles. You miss
out on a great
deal of the flavour and affect and in this respect you lose a lot in the
translation with a dubbed approach.
This movie is called "La Vita e bella/Life
is beautiful" in the combined Italian/English version and that is how
I
recommend you purchase it.
This is a movie with a lot of potential to teach. It teaches the value of
honesty as a way of life in that this can be fully
retained when a man is
simply acting in a humorous spirit to make life seem more bearable and to
spare children an ugly
reality that surrounds them. Yet there is a spirit that
continues in Benigni's character as a man who'd like to stay sane
honestly
enough that he will conjure up a version of events to keep his audience with
him and in good humour. Such characters
are always trying for as much real
honesty as the situation will allow however they have learned a defensive
coping mechanism
to telling it like it is. And in this respect perhaps his son
at the end has a better view of the world than is justified however
fact is
that he is being lied to by a man who thinks he is being a better father this
way. Its a great story that touches on the
travesty and the tragedy of the
holocaust, as Italian jews were not spared this fate although many were
harbored by good
Italians who could not go along with Hitler's madness in this
respect.
Michael Rizzo Chessman
Trailer for above movie will be posted here soon. Thank you for your patience
Emma Thompson speech (Golden Globe awards for sense and sensibility)