| Academy Awards, USA | |||
| Year | Result | Award | Category/Recipient(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Won | Oscar | Best Actor in a Leading Role Roberto Benigni |
| Best Foreign Language Film Italy. | |||
| Best Music, Original Dramatic Score Nicola Piovani | |||
| Nominated | Oscar | Best Director Roberto Benigni | |
| Best Film Editing Simona Paggi | |||
| Best Picture Elda Ferri Gianluigi Braschi | |||
| Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Vincenzo Cerami Roberto Benigni | |||
Miramax Films
Directed by Roberto Benigni
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(HDNet Movies)
Shamelessly optimistic "fairy tale" about a Jewish waiter in fascist Italy. Director Benigni also stars as a man who believes he can make anything happen by his will power alone. In the first half of the film he relentlessly pursues a wealthy woman by a series of contrived coincidences. It's a romantic comedy that is neither romantic or funny. He finally corners the woman in a remote house, and comes out ten years later married and a father. The second half of the film can only be described by one word: tasteless. Benigni and his son are taken to a Nazi concentration camp, while his wife, not a Jew, jumps on the train as well. He uses his "will power" to convince his son that it is all a game and that they will survive. While his optimism is to be commended, surviving a concentration camp is just not that simple. If so, millions of other Jews would have survived by willing themselves out as well. He survives not by will power, but by luck, if you can overlook the incredible coincidences and plot holes that have to occur, not to mention a concentration camp that looks more like a work house for the poor.
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