Richard and I were the only people in America who hadn't seen the sweet story of a clown-like man who falls in love in the 1930s, starts a family, and then pretends to his son that their German death camp is all a game, so Beth and Jack were nice enough to sit through it again last weekend. It's delightful, other than the feeling of dread that pervades the second half. At the time I was afraid to watch a holocaust movie. I don't remember why--I handled Schindler's List (1993) just fine. Roberto Benigni's (hilarious in the first-rate Down By Law (1986), Night on Earth (1991), and Coffee and Cigarettes (2003), among others) father was in a concentration camp, which is what inspired him to write the movie that won him Oscars for Best Actor, Best Music (here's a taste), and Best Foreign Film, which wins caused him to climb over the seats and kiss Martin Scorsese's feet. Benigni is a Chaplin-style comedic actor, with pratfalls and silly costumes. His real-life wife Nicoletta Braschi plays his paramour here, as she often does, and the little boy, Giorgio Cantarini, who plays their son, is adorable. Three years later he played the son in Gladiator, and the actor who played his father, this time Russell Crowe, also won the acting Oscar.
Most of you have probably seen it. But if you haven't, get it. And watch it with the subtitles. The only gag you need to know Italian for is that the word for dwarves (as in Snow White) is minuti, which also means minutes.
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