I've heard people tell me they have problem with foreign films . They do not like having to read AND pay attention to characters, plot, and such. These are the people that Sly Stallone, Ahhhnold and Jean-Claude make movies for. Open your eyes, focus and concentrate on the screen, as you should. The one thing that I love about foreign films is that they force you to pay attention to the screen. You can’t be fiddling with your popcorn, or remote (depending on where you're watching it), reading, clipping coupons, or whatever else you all do during movies. I don't really want to know.

A case in point on what happens when you do this is Life is Beautiful, an incredibly powerful story about true love and the passion of living. It is basically two stories woven together with the emotional and energetic, yet honest and fun, performance of (now) Academy Award winner Roberto Benigni.

Benigni, heretofore known to most audiences (if at all), as the star of the Son of Pink Panther, and a couple of other lighthearted foreign comedies, doesn’t tone down the humor much, but instead turns the focus of it towards those who mean the most in his life. He is like a rodeo clown here, serving to show you the silver lining in each cloud and distract you away from the danger until it disappears.

The first half of the film, seemingly unfocused and pointless at the time, deals with he and a friend arriving in a new town, securing employment through friends and relatives, and having run-ins with some of the locals, some good, some not so. During these, he meets his "Principesca", (Nicoletta Braschi, his real-life wife), and turns the focus of his well-intended insanity on her. There is a truly magical set of scenes that all of sudden bring this madness into focus. They involve his courtship of this young woman, using things he has learned and observed during his stay.

The tone turns serious in the second half, which transitions nicely from the first into a tale of imprisonment during the Nazi occupation of Italy. He and his son (adorable l’il kid indeed!) are interred, along later with his wife, and the movie then focuses on the ways the father shows his love for both. Watch for a scene similar to Shawshank here, truly moving, though not as much.