I cannot help but marvel at what is so cheerfully, masterfully, and touchingly done in Roberto Benigni’s 1997 Oscar-winning film “Life Is Beautiful”, which was re-released in South Korean theaters early in this month. This is a very special film which dares to attempt one inherently tricky stunt between drama and comedy, and the result still beautifully works as a comic fable of luck, defiance, and love.

The first half of the film is quite lightweight to say the least, but it is actually very crucial in establishing the ground for its comic hero, who can be regarded as a sort of holy clown for good reasons. Although he may look a bit too silly and annoying at first, Guido Orefice, who is played by Benigni himself, is always good at charming others around him thanks to his good nature as well as his rather incredible luck and clever acts of improvisation, and the first half of the movie presents a series of comic situations where he somehow gets away with one thing after another for our smile and amusement.

At the beginning of the story, which is set in 1939, Guido and his friend have just arrived at a little town for working along with Guido’s aging uncle at a local hotel, and that is how he comes across a pretty young female schoolteacher named Dora (Nicoletta Braschi). Although their first encounter is not exactly romantic, Guido soon finds himself quite attracted to Dora, and, what do you know, he comes to appear in front of Dora again and again thanks to not only several wily moves from him but also some good luck for him.

Yes, his active romantic pursuit may look a bit creepy to us these days, but Benigni’s ebullient spirit, which incidentally contributed to one of the most memorable moments at the 1999 Academy Awards when he won a Best Actor Oscar (The movie also won in Best Foreign Language Film and Best Original Dramatic Score in addition being nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay, by the way), is simply infectious on the screen. Just watch how effortlessly he bounces from one comic moment after another, you can easily see why Dora comes to like and then fall in love with his character even though he is a total stranger to her from the very beginning.

Playing her character as straight as possible, Nicoletta Braschi ably complements her co-star who is also her husband, and her earnest performance comes to function as the solid counterpart for her husband’s irrepressible comic energy. Besides his sincere presentation of love, Guido always surprises Dora as managing to bring a little but precious bit of magic and romance to those private moments between them, and this eventually prompts her to walk away from her lousy fascist fiancé for marrying Guido instead.

The second half of the movie begins with how happy Guido and Dora are with their little son several years later, but we observe more of how things have become gloomier for Guido and many other Jewish people in the city. Nonetheless, Guido remains optimistic and spirited as usual while constantly covering the harsh reality from his son – even when he and his son and uncle are inevitably taken along with other Jewish people to a concentration camp located somewhere in Italy.

Around this narrative point, the screenplay written by Benigni and his co-writer Vincezo Cerami enters a very, very, very risky territory. Quite determined to protect his son as long as possible, Guido lies to his son right from their first day at the concentration camp that they and others around them are playing a long-term hide and seek game for winning the first prize, and his innocent son does not have any problem with going along with that.

This is not very realistic to say the least, but, as I said earlier in this review, the movie is intended as a fable instead of a realistic Holocaust drama film. As he did in the first half of the film, Guido simply continues his daring comic dance between sheer luck and smart improvisation, and the concentration camp is just another test on how far he can go with that. Like those artist characters of Ernst Lubitsch’s “To Be or Not to Be” (1942) or the master of ceremony in Bob Fosse’s “Cabaret” (1972), he simply makes a defiant stance against fascism in his own humorous but courageous way, and there is undeniable poignancy in that – especially when he keeps his usual attitude despite finally being at his wits’ end.

More than 25 years have passed since the movie came out, but it is still remarkable to observe how the movie somehow succeeds in striking the right balance with its very sensitive story materials. Around the time of its initial theatrical release, the movie was understandably criticized a lot for trivializing the grim history of the Holocaust, but I must point out that 1) it wisely avoids being too dark and gloomy for its comedy and 2) it also indirectly recognizes the horror and despair of the Holocaust from time to time. Just look at a brief but clearly tragic moment involved with Guido’s uncle, and you will see that the movie is indeed serious about its historical subject even while doing its tricky genre stunt along with its comic hero.

In conclusion, “Life Is Beautiful” is a sublime mix of comedy and drama which has endured the test of time fairly well after going through all the hoopla surrounding it at that time. Unfortunately, Benigni’s career got crashed down to a considerable degree because of the critical failure of his very next film “Pinocchio” (2002), but “Life Is Beautiful” remains as his crowning achievement nonetheless, and, considering its current IMDB ranking, I believe it will be continued to be loved and cherished by audiences as before.