What happens when a non Jew makes a movie about the Jewish Holocaust? "Life is Beautiful", this is what happens. Benigni's movie had very little Jewish content, absolutely no Jewish feel to it and the author excuse was that his creation was in fact a "fable". Benigni, obviously didn't understand that the Jewish experience of Holocaust is not a universal experience because of the uniqueness of the Jewish culture, for one. This is why, his movie, funny at times, failed to be convincing.
I brought Benigni up for discussion because his name seems to be always associated with " The Train of Life". Both movies talk about Holocaust in a humorous way. But unlike Benigni, Radu Mihaileanu, a Jew himself, acknowledged in his movie that the way the Jews felt the war was very different than how other felt it, the Italians for instance even if some of them shared similar experiences- Benigni's fathers spent two years in a concentration camp. Mihaileanu's Jews, in their attempt to escape sure death, used Jewish wisdom, collaborated in a Jewish fashion and laughed at Jewish jokes. Yes they laughed a lot, at Nazis, of course and equally at themselves. We the spectators laughed we them. What happens when a Jew tells the story of Gypsies' Holocaust experience? Mihaileanu tried it. This whole scene was the only moment of the movie that regrettably reminded me of "Life is beautiful". I am able though to ignore this unfortunate cinematic incident and highly recommend "The Train of Life".
4 out of 5 found this helpful