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Life Is Beautiful [imdb] [viff] Dir: Roberto Benigni Country: Italy

The first half of Life Is Beautiful is a wonderful comic, fantasy romance. When it changes gears to a Nazi concentration camp, it cannot help feeling awkward. Perhaps the point was to show how far the Benigni (sp?) character would go to keep the spirits of his family alive in this grim circumstance. Perhaps that effort was equally directed toward the audience. While his continued antics did not feel like an insult to historic events, it did seem somewhat out of place. Maybe the point was that humour is one way to cope with tragedy. Unfortunately, I cannot say for certain as I thought the film had nothing more to say beyond the surface narrative.