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Life Is Beautiful

Life Is Beautiful

1997
Comedy
Drama
1h 56m
From one of the world's most acclaimed comic filmmakers comes an unexpected and unforgettable fable about the power of laughter to move the human heart and the power of the imagination to bolster the human spirit. (Miramax Films)
Your probable score
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Life Is Beautiful

1997
Comedy
Drama
1h 56m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 71.64% from 9918 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(9918)
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Rated 01 Dec 2006
9
93rd
Funny, heartbreaking and tragic. Life is Beautiful solidifies that Fellini was right in calling Benigni a genius. He really hammers home the point that a child's innocence is worth protecting.
Rated 31 Jan 2009
59
18th
Italy's answer to Pee Wee Herman gets sent to a concentration camp; it's about as funny as Anne Frank's diary.
Rated 21 Jul 2023
42
9th
Ernest Goes to Death Camp.
Rated 17 Feb 2007
94
99th
Certainly one of the touching films I ever see. If you do not understaind this film well you are quite cold and stupid man.
Rated 20 Mar 2010
85
88th
No matter how cynically you choose to scrutinize this movie's execution (no pun intended), tone or even clown Benigni himself, there's no two ways around the fact that placing a comedy inside the holocaust is as brave an idea as it is brilliant.
Rated 20 Oct 2007
0
1st
My favorite genre... Holocaust comedies.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
0
0th
The Holocaust wasn't so bad, it was kind of like a summer camp. If only Jews were to take it with a grain of salt, have some fun during it. So the Germans weren't nice, so what? It's not like it was dehumanization and the systematic torture and massacre of millions or anything (besides, Jews had it coming to them for the crucifixion). This in essence is Benigni's underlying message in this movie. And the more scrutiny it is subjected to the more it astounds in its deliberation and forethought.
Rated 08 Apr 2008
95
98th
So sad yet beautiful.
Rated 25 Jan 2010
16
9th
There's a reason why The Day The Clown Cried wasn't released.
Rated 10 Feb 2009
79
82nd
Is it possile to make a comedy out of concentration camps? Only Benigni's got the balls to do it. So, extra score for a fresh point of view.
Rated 04 Jan 2010
94
98th
The title says it all actually. Very hard title which left me with some mixed feelings. Pain, anger, love, ... This is one of the most charming, yet most painfully direct movies I've ever seen. Really touched me.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
95
92nd
The best depiction of the importance of imagination.
Rated 23 Feb 2013
85
67th
With the charm and character of a light-hearted silent film and the melodrama of a holocaust story, the blending isn't always seamless and natural, but it does create a product of originality and sheer beauty.
Rated 26 Jan 2009
80
88th
One unbelievable scene scarred my life the day I first saw this movie.
Rated 06 Feb 2011
80
66th
Definitely not the atrocity I envisioned. The film is really quite charming, often beautiful, and genuinely moving. The first hour is especially good, with some fine moments of humor. Benigni's a bit too delighted with himself, but he has some talent for comedy. Continuing the comedy into the second half it something that just shouldn't work, but he pulls it off. Admittedly, it's a fantasy version of a concentration camp, but if you accept the movie on its own terms, it has its rewards.
Rated 19 Jun 2019
95
99th
An incredibly beautiful picture. The first half is one of the greatest movie love stories of all time, and the second half is pure exquisite emotion. The story is fantastically original and Roberto Benigni deserves every accolade for his performance and direction. A magnificent film.
Rated 19 Jun 2023
50
37th
Massive problem with suspension of disbelief here, particularly in the second half of the film, where actions and consequences were sporadic and often followed no rules and logic. The first half of the film was excellent, but it rapidly descended into huge levels of unbelievability, and albeit several intriguing scenes in the second half of the film, the broken causality of the film and the one-sided characters proved too big of a weight for me to enjoy this.
Rated 01 Jul 2007
32
8th
Roberto Benigni is a twat.
Rated 16 Sep 2019
45
8th
Benigni's intentions are good, but at its foundation this "comedy" is incredibly wrong-headed, never able to reconcile the horrors of the second half with the sanitised child's games (and simplistic child's world) presented. For this to work, it would have needed to move much darker in the second half, or else switch entirely to "through the eyes of a child". As it is, it's a half baked compromise, emerging as naïve and facile. Well crafted production-wise, with some fine set and costume design
Rated 14 Aug 2007
79
57th
I didn't think I'd like this, and for the first half hour it was exactly the silly comedy I was afraid it would be. The gags were stupid and predictable and Benigni's mugging for the camera got on my nerves. It started to find a better balance as it went on, though, and kicked into gear in the second half. It was still silly, but in more subdued and thoughtful way. The comedy was used to counterbalance a more serious plot and it worked much better. By the end I was actually liking the film
Rated 14 Aug 2007
100
98th
FANTASTIC! this is how war movies are made. America can never do that!
Rated 24 Jan 2014
50
4th
Not as bad as I expected it to be, but still extremely misguided in its treatment of the Holocaust and its views towards tragedy. There is one scene in the film that I love, which is Benigni pretending to translate the German into Italian, but instead makes up a bunch of bullshit rules for his bullshit game.
Rated 27 Jul 2010
100
99th
The first part is an occasionally hilarious romantic comedy, typical of Benigni. The second part is a heartbreaking war film capable of eliciting profound despair. Blessed with an excellent score and remarkable performances and bravely dealing with racism, isolation, family, love, life and death, "Life Is Beautiful" isn't a film to miss.
Rated 07 Oct 2010
45
23rd
There's nothing subtle or subversive about this film. Rather than providing the audience an opportunity to process the horrors in front of them, this movie hurls everything before our eyes to wring out our sadness and empathy. What could have been a beautifully delicate story is instead an overwrought schmaltzfest with a terribly clunky ending. A movie should earn its tears, not manipulate them.
Rated 27 Jan 2008
95
99th
Clever and moving, dramatic and comical depiction of life in WOII. LiKED: Roberto Begnini's acting, the combination of humour and drama. DiSLiKED: -
Rated 10 Jan 2013
0
0th
A reprehensible film that airbrushes up the Holocaust to make it palatable (thus trivialising it) and, probably unintentionally, presents ignorance as liberating. It doesn't help that Roberto Benigni is a very unfunny and annoying screen presence, and that Giorgio Cantarini is somehow even more annoying. Or that the writing and directing is uniformly pathetic: it's condescending, cloying, childish and exploitative. Capitalising on real life tragedy for the purposes of entertainment...
Rated 04 May 2016
88
86th
The first half of this movie is one of the funniest comedies you will ever see. The second half is a pretty good drama. The link between the two pieces is not quite clean, mostly being different stories with the same characters, but that is easy to forgive, especially after the true excellence of the first story.
Rated 17 May 2008
85
89th
up until the ending, this movie is immaculate, but that ending was a damned klunker, really with only the intent to tear jerk you rather than make it a better movie.
Rated 24 Feb 2014
20
12th
A bloated, 50 minute prologue that manages to tell its story worse than Up did in less than 10 minutes swerves into Disney's Schindler's List. I understand (and agree with) the necessity to preserve a child's innocence, but the idea that it was possible in the Holocaust is naive at best and horribly insulting at worst. Guido and his son would've gotten killed in like two seconds, but because the Nazis are basically the camp counselors in Heavyweights, we get a stupid, saccharine ending. Boooooo.
Rated 12 Sep 2007
97
98th
This was a heart-warming, gut-wrenching film. It was joyous and sad at the same time. Roberto Benigni was at the top in this movie. I drove miles and brought both of my high-school age (at the time) daughters to see this film. A film like this is a once-in-a-lifetime event I think.
Rated 08 Apr 2010
40
7th
Weirdly maudlin and inappropriate tone considering the subject matter. An inferior take on "Day the Clown Cried".
Rated 06 May 2011
84
66th
Pinnochio gets shot in the end.
Rated 21 Aug 2007
78
77th
good, a jewish man tries to shield his son from the horrific realities of a nazi internment camp.
Rated 10 Sep 2008
34
10th
Bad score on principle.
Rated 16 Mar 2007
2
15th
Very okay. I mean, just read the synopsis to the left, does that sound fucking cheesy or what? And that about sums it up. Pretty decent, surprisingly emotional, cheesy and hokey...yeah.
Rated 30 Nov 2014
1
1st
the holocaust, according to roberto benigni: http://tinyurl.com/k8mgxpb
Rated 07 Jan 2009
97
96th
Only really good in original Italian. In English, you lose alot of the emotion and feeling behind the characters. If you understand Italian, or don't mind reading subtitles..I'd definitely suggest seeing that one!
Rated 21 Jul 2011
80
54th
Benigni's earnest charm, when not overstepping its bounds into the unnecessarily treacly, offers the possibility of hope in the face of unflinching.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
70
82nd
Touching story and a great film.
Rated 26 May 2007
95
95th
Beauty in life even during the war.
Rated 26 Mar 2011
90
92nd
One of the best mixtures of comedy and drama I have ever seen. It reminded me strongly of Charlie Chaplin - a larger than life character interacting in a very real world. And it doesn't get much more real (and horrific) than the setting of this film. Somehow Benigni is able to perform a perfect tight rope act between the horrors of the holocaust and his own great sense of humor. Funny, endearing and quite sad.
Rated 01 Feb 2008
1
10th
The Holocaust was actually pretty fun!
Rated 09 Nov 2007
75
53rd
Crying and laughing at the same time.
Rated 31 Jul 2008
78
89th
good movie
Rated 25 Feb 2011
100
95th
The notion of a "feel-good Holocaust comedy" shouldn't work. But Benigni's stunning epic is not, at its core, a Holocaust movie, but rather a story of endurance of family love.
Rated 28 Dec 2014
35
23rd
Message on this movie is very clear : I'm dying for the Oscar and I'm gonna take it
Rated 17 Jan 2011
88
80th
Depressing, yet utterly beautiful
Rated 18 Jun 2011
90
97th
... it most certainly is.
Rated 06 Mar 2007
74
77th
Still moves me everytime I watch it.
Rated 06 Jun 2010
2
10th
Whoa, this movie is deplorable. It's not as if it is completely impossible to tackle the Holocaust with humor (see: The Great Dictator, The Shop on Main Street) but here Benigni seems to think it's ok (and comedic!!) to lie to people to shield them from the horrors around them. Yes, I agree that ignorance is in fact bliss but I never thought someone would actually advocate this as something to strive for.
Rated 17 May 2007
100
99th
Brought tears to my eyes. One of the most touching movies I've ever seen.
Rated 09 Mar 2008
100
99th
Splendorous script. A sensitive and quite humoured movie.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
95
92nd
A Family-Drama at its finest, and in Italian. Cute love sequence, followed by an amazing, funny, and clever story of a father's attempt to convince his son that Life is Beautiful.
Rated 17 Feb 2017
89
56th
2
Rated 06 Mar 2009
91
58th
Life is what you make of it! Must see!
Rated 03 Feb 2009
90
50th
Beautiful story, great characters.
Rated 09 Feb 2007
33
14th
null
Rated 16 Sep 2007
90
98th
Sad and funny. Combined in an unique way.
Rated 30 Nov 2010
69
7th
The interesting thing about this is the placing of comedy within the gruesome situation of the holocaust. However, this good work is undermined by the pretty disgraceful airbrushing over of the grim realities of a death camp in the service of family viewing which can't work both ways. Combine this with the straight-line narrative (yet with the suspensions of reality where convenient) and sentimentality for sentimentality's sake and what you end up with is thought provoking tat.
Rated 01 Sep 2007
50
15th
Overrated, overrated, overrated
Rated 13 Dec 2010
100
93rd
One of the best WWII movies I've seen so far.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
75
50th
Perhaps a bit too sappy/happy-go-lucky topped with a crummy ending. Thankfully we were shown the contrast from the father's true feelings versus the image portrayed in front of his son. Lacks the full heart tugging potential achieved by other movies in the same genre.
Rated 01 Nov 2009
100
97th
Esencial
Rated 22 Jun 2008
83
91st
It's entertaining and tragic, hilarious and serious all at the same time with performances and characters that will stay with you forever.
Rated 31 Oct 2020
90
97th
Such a good movie. Both the comedy and the tragedy hit home without fail.
Rated 14 Aug 2015
80
84th
The first half of this film is really funny, but with very dark undertones. In some scenes, such as the school inspector scene, you don't know weather to laugh or cry. Sometimes, you can't help yourself from laughing. All of this makes the second half of the film even more emotionally draining. This isn't a realistic description of the holocaust, but it's a beautiful and well crafted film.
Rated 02 Jan 2016
93
96th
Absolutely heroic and kind of a masterpiece.
Rated 18 Feb 2009
80
58th
A great movie that you will probably only ever want to see once. One father's insistence on keeping the horrors of war away from his son turns out to be a bitter-sweet journey, until the end when the sweetness is fairly overpowered except in the eyes of this innocent child.
Rated 05 Nov 2009
4
15th
Nothing wrong with WWII exploitation movies, I suppose. This one being a comedy it probably deserves higher marks than other well-known anguish-porno efforts. The real problem here, is Benigni himself, who used to be an excellent stand-up comedian, but who is definitely not an actor, nor a director. In fact, he is one of the great erasers of suspension of disbelief, having the uncanny ability of making any movie he is in, completely unbelievable and uninteresting. Not even Tom Cruise is that bad
Rated 29 May 2007
9
90th
In typical Chaplin fashion - Benigni's hero - 'La vita è bella' admirably and carefully weaves together humor and pathos and serves as a powerful reminder of the lengths to which a loving parent is prepared to go in order to preserve his child's happiness.
Rated 29 Jan 2019
94
93rd
iki zıt duygunun harmonisini bu film kadar derinlemesine veren başka bir yapıt ile karşılaşmadım - Trajedi ve komedinin evliliğini , toplum eleştirisi olarak ve diğer yandan sahte bir eğlence üzerine temellendirilmiş etkili bir film. Filmin isminin ironikliğiyle başlayan ve birsürü sarkastik göndergelerle süslenen filmde hangi duyguyu yaşayacağınıza karar vermekte zorlanacaksınız. Neyse ki duyguları ussal bir karar neticesinde yaşamıyoruz ve film ruhunuzu alobora etme konusunda gayet yetkin. Fi
Rated 24 Feb 2021
50
2nd
Borderline offensive. The first half is lovely and funny, but by the end you're left with the impression that Benigni used the Holocaust to create a star vehicle for his own comedic talents
Rated 25 Jul 2007
95
85th
breathes life into the holocaust genre, and it is beautiful.
Rated 17 May 2008
75
48th
Charming and sad.
Rated 15 Oct 2008
90
75th
absolutely beautiful
Rated 25 Sep 2010
72
86th
A bit overrated but still a charming film if you don't take it as a historical look at concentration camps.
Rated 30 Oct 2011
100
99th
A movie full with emotion. Life is portrayed with its duality - happyness and sadness are all a part of it. The characters are living wonders - a must see.
Rated 10 Mar 2019
40
10th
Went in with an open mind, but did not work for me at all. Heavy handed, unbelievable. Benigni's character comes off as someone w/ a savior complex. He projects selflessness by treating the kid and others around him as if they are stupid, and by being bubbly, he is saving them from the horror. The first portion of this movie is great, but the rest is a low blow that also totally misses. Could have been a great movie if it stuck to being a romantic comedy.
Rated 02 Feb 2022
3
28th
The comedy didn't really do too much for me (reading english subs) but overall it wasn't too bad. Wouldn't run around recommending it.
Rated 26 Feb 2007
55
35th
Although well-executed, this film lacked the depth and breadth that the topic deserved. The script is to be faulted much more than the actors or film crew (who did their jobs well).
Rated 13 Jun 2017
89
92nd
beautiful
Rated 21 Oct 2010
84
83rd
The first half is only slightly better than the usual irritating Benigni, but the second half is just amazing.
Rated 17 Sep 2008
70
95th
grufuldt emne, smuk historie
Rated 30 Nov 2006
72
37th
Controversial film because of its comedic character set in a Nazi concentration camp. However I found the shocking scenes even more shocking as they might have been in a tragedy. Good film.
Rated 29 Aug 2011
89
93rd
Beautifully emotional film
Rated 22 Jun 2015
88
81st
This movie is beautiful. Roberto Benigni does a fantastic job of making a movie about the holocaust beautiful and funny, which aren't the normal adjectives that you would use for the film's subject matter. It was sad too, but he did a good job of making it more lighthearted than sad. Benigni was an adorable father, you just want to see him succeed and survive in the harsh world of Nazi territory...
Rated 06 Dec 2010
76
50th
A sad and tragic story based in Italy during WWII. The movie begins with comedy and ends in tragedy. Roberto Benigni (Guido Orefice) does everything in his power to protect and love his family despite the challenges he faces. Please watch this movie.
Rated 18 Aug 2008
80
82nd
x0
Rated 31 Dec 2008
85
82nd
I would have cried if I wasn't watching it in school. If it doesn't break your heart then you don't have one.
Rated 21 May 2007
70
24th
A so so overly strange film that seems to lose the balance in gravity and humor and fails to hodl interest for very long.
Rated 23 Jun 2007
97
96th
Benigni may seem a bit manipulative, but I have a hard time not weeping by the time the closing credits come around.
Rated 01 Jan 2023
90
89th
Utterly amazing. The way the film mines genuine hilarity out of such a harrowing story is a triumph.
Rated 18 Mar 2007
81
63rd
Though it's unrealistic, Life is Beautiful is an emotionally touching movie that everyone can relate to in some way.
Rated 28 Jul 2012
84
86th
What a beautiful, touching and incredibly funny tragic comedy. Benigni is fantastic in the lead role. The horrors of the holocaust are somewhat dumbed down so if you want a history lesson I suggest watching a different movie. 'Life is Beautiful' is about hope, innocence, imagination and love, and magnificantly coveys it's message.
Rated 27 Sep 2008
85
80th
One of the most elegiac movies of Jews
Rated 31 May 2010
90
85th
I think this made me cry. It's good.
Rated 09 Aug 2018
80
86th
this movie has me sobbing
Rated 30 Sep 2014
4
91st
An hour of expert clowning then an hour-long, mostly business as usual holocaust movie.
Rated 13 Nov 2008
100
99th
this movie is so perfect
Rated 03 Apr 2020
88
75th
inspiring,humane

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