Roberto Benigni's beautifully written story (with Vincenzo Cerami) dares to put humour and love into the Holocaust, and wins. (It was partly based on the experiences of Roberto's dad who was in a Nazi Labour camp, but made jokes out of this so his children weren't upset.) It being the Auschwitz liberation anniversary, it was a timely viewing, and well overdue.
Offenbach aria used effectively as Benigni and his real-life wife Nicoletta Braschi ("I wonder if we'll ever bump into each other standing up?") and their son Giorgio Cantarini negotiate the Holocaust. He won the Oscar and BAFTA and the film garnered most of the David di Donatellos that year, including one for Tonino Delli Colli's photography - but not for Nicolo Piovani's music.
The plot point of the tank is brilliant, and the twist involving riddle-obsessed nazi Horst Buchholz. With Giustino Durano, Marisa Paredes, Sergio Bini Bustric, Pietro de Silva.
Production design, art direction and costumes all by Danilo Donati (worked with Fellini and Zeffirelli, Visconti and Pasolini; I think no relation to Sergio). Filmed in Arezzo.
A wonderfully clever balancing act by a first class Clown, a comment that applies to the above image as well as to the film as a whole. Most disappointed that his Il Piccolo Diavolo, with Walter Matthau, is not available in a subtitled version. He's in Matteo Garrone's live action 2019 Pinocchio.
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