La vita è bella Life Is Beautiful 美丽人生
Life Is Beautiful (Italian: La vita è bella, Italian pronunciation: [la ˈviːta ˌɛ bˈbɛlla]) is a 1997 Italian comedy-drama film directed by and starring Roberto Benigni, who co-wrote the film with Vincenzo Cerami. Benigni plays Guido Orefice, a Jewish Italian bookshop owner, who employs his fertile imagination to shield his son from the horrors of internment in a Nazi concentration camp. The film was partially inspired by the book In the End, I Beat Hitler by Rubino Romeo Salmonì and by Benigni's father, who spent two years in a German labour camp during World War II.
The film was a critical and financial success. It grossed over $230 million worldwide, becoming one of the highest-grossing non-English language movies of all time, and received widespread acclaim (despite some criticisms of using the subject matter for comedic purposes). It won the Grand Prix at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, nine David di Donatello Awards (including Best Film), five Nastro d'Argento Awards in Italy, two European Film Awards, and three Academy Awards (including Best Foreign Language Film and Best Actor for Benigni).
Storyline
In 1930s Italy, a carefree Jewish book keeper named Guido starts a fairy tale life by courting and marrying a lovely woman from a nearby city. Guido and his wife have a son and live happily together until the occupation of Italy by German forces. In an attempt to hold his family together and help his son survive the horrors of a Jewish Concentration Camp, Guido imagines that the Holocaust is a game and that the grand prize for winning is a tank. Written by Anthony Hughes <husnock31@hotmail.com>
CAST
Roberto Benigni as Guido Orefice
Nicoletta Braschi as Dora Orefice
Giorgio Cantarini as Giosué Orefice
Giustino Durano as Uncle Eliseo
Horst Buchholz as Doctor Lessing
Marisa Paredes as Dora's mother
Sergio Bustric as Ferruccio
Amerigo Fontani as Rodolfo
Lydia Alfonsi as Guicciardini
Giuliana Lojodice as the Headmistress
Pietro Desilva as Bartolomeo
Francesco Guzzo as Vittorino
Raffaella Lebboroni as Elena
Claudio Alfonsi as Amico Rodolfo
Gil Baroni as the Prefect
Ennio Consalvi as General Graziosi
Aaron Craig as the tank driver
Alfiero Falomi as Re
STAFF
Directed by Roberto Benigni
Produced by Gianluigi Braschi, Elda Ferri
Written by Roberto Benigni, Vincenzo Cerami
Music by Nicola Piovani
Cinematography: Tonino Delli Colli
Edited by Simona Paggi
Production company: Melampo Cinematografica
Distributed by Cecchi Gori Group (Italy), Miramax Films (USA/International)
Release date: 20 December 1997 (Italy)
Running time: 116 minutes
Country: Italy
Language: Italian, German, English
Budget: $20 million
Box office: $230.1 million