Life Is Beautiful

Movie Details:

Cast & Characters:

• Roberto Benigni as Guido Orefice, an Italian-Jewish waiter and Giosuè’s father
• Nicoletta Braschi as Dora Orefice, a Gentile woman, Guido’s wife, and Giosuè’s mother
• Giorgio Cantarini as Giosuè Orefice, the son of Guido and Dora
• Giustino Durano as Uncle Eliseo, Giosuè’s granduncle and Guido’s uncle
• Horst Buchholz as Doctor Lessing, a doctor at the concentration camps who was a regular customer at Eliseo’s restaurant. He often tries to solve riddles when with Guido
• Marisa Paredes as Dora’s mother, a rich socialite
• Sergio Bustric as Ferruccio, Guido’s bumbling partner
• Amerigo Fontani as Rodolfo, Dora’s former husband to be and a government official
• Lydia Alfonsi as Guicciardini
• Giuliana Lojodice as the Headmistress
• Pietro Desilva as Bartolomeo
• Francesco Guzzo as Vittorino
• Raffaella Lebboroni as Elena
• Claudio Alfonsi as Rodolfo’s friend
• Richard Sammel as Waffen-SS Officer
• Omero Antonutti as older Giosuè who serves as the narrator (voice, uncredited)

Storyline:

In 1930s Italy, a carefree Jewish waiter-turned-bookseller named Guido starts a fairy tale life by courting and marrying a lovely woman teacher named Dora. Guido and Dora have a son named Joshua and live happily together until the forced deportation of the town’s Jewish population in cattle cars. Dora, while not required to be deported, volunteers to leave with her family, and they are all forced to live in a concentration camp. In an attempt to hold his family together and help his son survive the horrors of a concentration camp, Guido imagines that the Holocaust is a game and that the grand prize for winning is a tank.

About Movie:

Life Is Beautiful (Italian: La vita è bella) is an Italian comedy-drama directed by and starring Roberto Benigni, who co-wrote the screenplay with Vincenzo Cerami. The film also stars Nicoletta Braschi, Giorgio Cantarini, Giustino Durano, Horst Buchholz, and Marisa Paredes.

Filming took place in the historic center of Arezzo, Tuscany, with a memorable scene shot in front of Badia delle Sante Flora e Lucilla, where Benigni’s character falls off a bicycle onto Braschi.

The film premiered in Italy in 1997, distributed by Cecchi Gori Distribuzione, and was later screened at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. In the U.S., it was released on October 23, 1998, by Miramax Films. Despite some controversy over its comedic portrayal of a Holocaust setting, Life Is Beautiful achieved critical and commercial success, grossing over $230 million worldwide, including $57.6 million in the U.S., making it the second highest-grossing foreign language film in U.S. history.

Life Is Beautiful won several prestigious awards, including the Grand Prix at Cannes, nine David di Donatello Awards, five Nastro d’Argento Awards, and two European Film Awards. At the Academy Awards, it won three Oscars, including Best Foreign Language Film and Best Actor for Benigni, marking the first time a male non-English performance earned that accolade.

Budget & Box Office Collection: