Classic Comedy’s Second Coming Roberto Benigni, L M & M O V I E S

F I L M & M O V I E S

o many Americans, Roberto Benigni and his film Life Is

Beautiful materialized out of nowhere. Who was this

odd foreigner who suddenly jumped to the front of the

line and garnered three Oscars: Best Foreign Language Film,

Best Actor (a first for an actor in a foreign subtitled film), and

Best Dramatic Score? Recently, in television interviews and in

print, Benigni has been depicted largely as a crazy but charm-

ing buffoon who says he loves everybody and spews mangled

English in long incoherent sentences.

actors whose memory of their field goes no further back than,

say, Monty Python or the original Saturday Night Live, Rober-

to Benigni has been drawing from the well of the pioneering

masters – particularly the silent ones: Charlie Chaplin, Buster

Keaton, Harold Lloyd. There are also shades of Laurel & Hardy,

the Marx Brothers, Jacques Tati, and Peter Sellers throughout

his work. Fans of silent and classic comedy have been drawn

to him; he appears to be the living embodiment of the traditions

of slapstick and pantomime – rechanneling the magical aura of

Benigni with

Wim Wender

in 1993.

But our ignorance has been our loss, for this masterful	these past greats and reinventing it for audiences today. While
comedian is not a Johnny-Come-Lately, and he is nobody’s	he draws inspiration from these comic geniuses, he steals noth-
fool. His name is a household word in much of Europe, where	ing – for he has a unique persona and a style all his own. His
he is respected and adored for his large body of work as	appearance, stance, walk, voice, and gestures are already
writer, director, and actor. Benigni has been a major figure in	unmistakable and are fast becoming as well known as Chaplin’s
Italian cinema for well over a decade, though making only	once were. What wonderful gifts this man has to offer! His
occasional appearances in American films. He is so well loved	warmth, charisma, his lust for life, are infectious – and a bit of
in Italy that there was an astonishing show of public jubilation	fresh air in these cynical times. What makes him an even more
– literally, dancing in the streets – when he		endearing figure is his warm public and pro-
		fessional relationship with his wife, actress
won his Oscars. The Pope himself request-
ed a private viewing of Life Is Beautiful –		Nicoletta Braschi (who calls him “a poet”).
apparently only the third film the Pontiff		Benigni often includes her as his co-star and
had ever seen.		leading lady, referring to her as the “light-

Unlike many contempo-		ning” or electricity that ani-
rary comedians and comic		mates his work.