This is the first movie review that I ever had published. It appeared in the June 1999 edition of “Shawnee News,” the school newspaper of “Shawnee Middle School” in Easton, PA. Its title was simply, “Movie Review.”
To better understand who I was as a human being when I wrote this article, I highly recommend this piece I wrote in my career as a Salon Magazine staff writer (2016-Present) on October 2, 2021 (“Bullied, autistic and obsessed with presidents: How the 2000 presidential election changed my life”):
“Life is Beautiful,” starring Italian actor Roberto Benigni, is an outstanding film. It makes you wonder if “Shakespeare in Love” really deserved the Academy Award for best movie of ’98. Although the movie is spoken in Italian and requires subtitles, “Life is Beautiful” is brilliant, wonderful and magical in a way that has rarely been matched.
Dealing with the Holocaust, the movie revolves around a Jewish man, Guido, and his son as they are sent to a concentration camp. In order to calm his frightened son, the man pretends that the horrors of the cap are nothing more than an elaborate game. Therefore, within the film are many horrifying yet beautiful, even funny, moments.
The beginning of the movie appears to be a romantic comedy, complete with laugh-out loud humor. However, without warning, Guido (Benigni) and his tiny son Joshua are sent to a concentration camp, and the film spirals in an entirely different direction. Viewers are soon hit with images of hundreds, maybe thousands of dead bodies piled up behind a deathlike gray fog. Yet, through it all, Guido manages to find humor and beauty.
“Life is Beautiful” is a touching, beautiful piece that forces you to marvel at the wonder of the human spirit. You realize that, indeed, life is beautiful.