Alleva III.

Richard Alleva's review of Roberto Benigni's Life Is Beautiful reads somewhat like a priest's wayward homily so fixed on the Crucifixion that it downplays the Resurrection. Alleva joins other prominent critics such as John Simon and David Denby in seeing Benigni's film as a denial of the Holocaust, and Benigni's character, Guido, as little more than a clown.

But Guido can also be seen as a Nazi-era catcher in the rye, assigning himself to protect childhood innocence from the horrors of reality, which happens to be the most natural of human inclinations in times of trouble and tragedy. It seems to me that the irrepressible Benigni, whose name suggests his personality, hints at quite different motives.

It should be said that, from the moment of birth, we are all condemned to die, even though the horrors of the twentieth century prompted Samuel Beckett to offer the bleak alternative view that we are really condemned to live. Amid the mystery of life and death, it is religion, art, philosphy, and humor that offer welcome solace. In so doing, they all require a willing suspension of disbelief that paradoxically facilitates belief.

The worldwide success of Benigni's film is not so much a form of Holocaust denial as an affirmation of life that can even most jubilantly be reflected in Benigni's prancing on the backs of chairs at the academy awards presentation. That affirmation also is incorporated in the Jewish expression: "L'chayim," that surely must have consoled many Holocaust victims.

For sure, la vita is often not very bella. And when it isn't, more than despair is needed to make life palatable. Thus, even clowns can be helpful when, laughing on the outside, they are crying despairingly on the inside.

Cuthbert Carson Mann

Glendora, Calif.

The author replies

For Mr. Mann: If no horror of Crucifixion, then no glory of Resurrection. The latter proceeds from the former. And this horror can be conveyed even with comedy, as Lina Wertmuller proved in the last half-hour of her great film, Seven Beauties.

Nowhere in my review do I ever accuse Benigni of denying the Holocaust. Of course he wouldn't deny it; his own father was in a concentration camp. I wrote, "The Holocaust should never be comfortably conveyed" (emphasis added).

For Mr. McCudden: Yes, Life's narrator does tell us at the outset that we are about to see a "fable." But why should we believe him? Question authority, even the authority of fictional narrators. The proof has to be in the film itself, not in its preface. What I saw in Life's first half was whimsical realism leavened with mild slapstick, a blend familiar from hundreds of Italian comedies such as Big Deal on Madonna Street. The second half is tragicomedy laced with horror, a tricky combination which Benigni, in my opinion, is largely unable to bring off because he is unwilling to risk bruising the sensibilities of his audience.

But even if Life is a fable, so what? The genre itself doesn't excuse the artist from being responsible to his subject matter. And I didn't blame Benigni for having the audacity to set his tragicomedy in a concentration camp. My review complains of his lack of audacity in settling for pathos instead of power.

For Rev. Michael Perry: You understand very well the function of the critic. And I'm in your debt for indicating that function so economically in your letter. Richard Alleva