Life is Beautiful: A Movie Review [student`s name] [course] [university] Life is Beautiful: A Movie Review Is it possible to portray the holocaust in a comedy without watering down the seriousness of the carnage? Famous Italian comedian Roberto Benigni says, it is. The first actor to “win” the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor in a non-English role, Benigni is often considered as the heir of Charlie Chaplin. His 1997 movie, Life is Beautiful has earned him international praise. The movie is internationally acclaimed and has received citations from the Academy Awards, the Oscars, the European Film Awards, and the Cannes Film Festival, among many others. Yet despite the praises it has received, Life is Beautiful has garnered many criticisms. It is steeped in controversy – for laughing at an extremely woeful event, for Benigni playing a Jew when he in fact isn`t, for looking at life as if it was a game. For me, however, I think that Life is Beautiful is really a fable, but the insight it provides about the spirit of man is truly powerful. This paper explores why Roberto Benigni`s work became a commercial success and a controversial film. Life is Beautiful is composed of two acts, the first one relating to love, the second, about the Holocaust. In the first act, we see Guido using flirtatious encounter to woo Dora, a schoolteacher at the local elementary school. Perhaps one of the most memorable scenes in this part of the movi...