Synopsis

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.

Credits

Original Title:	La Vita è Bella
Genre:	Drama, Comedy
Director:	Roberto Benigni
Producers:	Gianluigi Braschi, John M. Davis, Elda Ferri
Running time:	116 min
Studio:	Melampo Cinematografica
Distribution:	Miramax Films
Release Date:	20 December 1997 (Italy), 23 October 1998 (USA)
Script:	Vincenzo Cerami, Roberto Benigni
Music:	Nicola Piovani
Director of photography:	Torino Delli Colli
Art Director:	Danilo Donati
Production Designer:	Danilo Donati
Costumes:	Danilo Donati
Edition:	Simona Paggi

Cast

Main Actors/Actresses:

• Roberto Benigni (Guido Orefice)
• Nicoletta Braschi (Dora)
• Giorgio Cantarini (Giosué Orefice)
• Giustino Durano (Guido's Uncle)
• Sergio Bini Bustric (Ferruccio Papini)
• Marisa Paredes (Dora's Mother)
• Horst Buchholz (Dr. Lessing)
• Amerigo Fontani (Rodolfo)
• Pietro De Silva (Bartolomeo)
• Francesco Guzzo (Vittorino)

Awards

Main Awards:

• Oscars 1999
• Best Actor
• Best Foreign Language Film
• Best Music, Original Dramatic Score
• Best Director (nomination)
• Best Film Editing (nomination)
• Best Picture (nomination)
• Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen (nomination)
• BAFTA 1999
• Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
• Best Film not in the English Language (nomination)
• Best Screenplay (nomination)
• Cannes Film Festival 1998
• Grand Prize of the Jury
• Golden Palm (nomination)
• César Awards 1999
• Best Foreign Film
• Grammy 2000
• Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media (nomination)

Trivia

• Roberto Benigni says the title comes from a quote by Leon Trotsky. In exile in Mexico, knowing he was about to be killed by Stalin's assassins, he saw his wife in the garden and wrote that, in spite of everything, life is beautiful.
• Guido's wife, Dora, is played by Roberto Benigni's real-life wife, Nicoletta Braschi.
• Horst Buchholz (Dr. Lessing) é erradamente apresentado no elenco como Horst Bucholz