francheval

I just saw this movie again for the first time since its release, and the memories I had were confirmed both in good and bad. Jerry Schatzberg is best remembered for "the Panic in Needle Park" and "the Scarecrow", two sensitive and hyperrealistic drama classics about the America of the 1970's. But this movie belongs to the Holocaust centered genre that thrived around 1990, and most of it has a very European feel.

It's likely that Schatzberg has been inspired by Louis Malle's "Goodbye Children" made two years earlier, as the plot and the atmosphere have much in common. There are two elements that stand out. The first is the thorough reconstruction of the everyday life in Germany at the time of Hitler's takeover. And the second is the subtle depiction of the friendship between two college boys in a tense and stiff environment. You get immediately captivated, and the two young actors deliver flawless performances. The soundtrack is an earworm and the gym class scene is a highlight.

However this is all in the flashback part, and there seems to be two movies interwoven, each of very unequal quality. By comparison, the parts involving Jason Robards are lacklustre and feel very off key with the rest. His performance gives an unpleasant impression, out of touch with the teenage character he impersonates as an old man. The excellence of the central narrative makes the movie still worth watching, but it is a pity that the whole was spoiled by this discrepancy. .

I usually don't take time to make reviews about movies I don't like. But this one managed to infuriate me in such a way that for once, I feel I have to make an exception. Now I don't reject as a principle the idea of a comedy about the Holocaust, but mind you, it is a very sensitive subject, so you have to be really talented in order to afford carrying out such a project.

I admit the first part of this flick does get some laughs, but not much more so than some easy entertaining comedy that you watch to relax after a long working day. That's not exactly what you call big art. It would be OK if the movie tried to be a parody of a Fellini movie for example. Roberto Benigni is certainly a gifted slapstick actor, but hardly more profound than Jerry Lewis or Louis de Funès. Actually, if I want to laugh my head out, I'd rather watch Mister Bean instead.

But sorry, I don't think Benigni can compare to Chaplin, and if you compare this film with "The Great Dictator", sorry again, it falls short. First, "The Great Dictator" was shot in 1940, and as such, it was obviously much more of a dare and of a statement to make a caricature of Hitler while he was still alive. Secondly, Chaplin knew about Yiddish culture, and the portrayal he made of the Jewish quarter for instance, as a parody, had at least some connection to reality. It is pretty obvious, on the other hand, that Mr Benigni doesn't know much about the subject he is dealing with, and did not care to document himself about it. By the way, Guido Orefice does not sound very Jewish, but it could be translated from Italian as "Guy Butthole". No, I'm serious.

What is obnoxious from the start is that Benigni seems to be quite self indulgent, naturally convinced that as an accomplished Italian buffoon, he is totally irresistible. He makes a caricatured court to his wife in real life, and it seems to take a few poor jokes and calling her "My Princess" so that she falls into his arms. The point of Mr Benigni seems to be more or less that : I am so funny, I am so genial, that I can take the most horrible and the most taboo subject I can find, and it will infallibly become as funny and genial as I am myself. That's as narcissistic as can be. When does Mr Benigni plan to make a comedy about pedophilia?

Now, the second part is really hard to take. The concentration camp looks like some severe prison in Switzerland. There were actually no children in concentration camp barracks because they were GASSED right away, and I wonder how long our irresistible Mr Benigni would have lasted in Auschwitz. Probably the Nazis would have thought he was so funny and genial that they would have him perform his laughable tricks while somebody was hanged...

Besides, I think lying to children in order to make them believe that life is a bed of roses is a very dubious philosophy. Children are not as stupid as one would like to think, and they generally feel when they're lied to. Transposed into a political context, lying to people in order to make them believe that "life is beautiful" has already been done many times.

Thanks to Mr Berlusconi who started his career by creating a trash-TV empire, the Italian cinema which used to be one of the most productive in the world collapsed in a mere few years. Here is what remains of it. Bravissimo.

The final "happy ending", with the kid laughing his head out while he is riding on an American tank with a white star made me so angry I wanted to punch my TV! I don't remember having ever experienced such a feeling before.

For those interested in Holocaust comedies, if you can get hold on that, check out "Train de vie". It is not the greatest movie, but since Jewish people took part in it, it is already much funnier, much more realistic, and much more respectful. As a long time movie lover, I am genuinely appalled beyond words by the success and recognition Benigni's despicable flick managed to achieve.

I don't even want to give this movie a rating.