Life is Beautiful

(Miramax)

Comedian Roberto Benigni's controversial Holocaust fable is about an Italian Jew who's shipped off to a death camp, where, to protect his son, Guido pretends it's all a game. The concept is well-intended and at times even moving, but the way Guido capers about like the Hogan's Heroes gang at Stalag 13 trivializes what happened at places like Auschwitz and Dachau: no heads are shaved, and death takes place off screen. And the feel-good Final Solution ending cheers the survival of a few while ignoring the extermination of millions.