Divisive, brilliant, risky in a year of risks, but not unprecedented
January 8, 2020
In 1998 I was ten, playing sports and Nintendo 64 everyday. The Academy's Best Picture nominees included Italy's
Life is Beautiful and the eventual winner,
Shakespeare in Love. These two beautifully constructed films contrasted the frontrunner, the war epic
Saving Private Ryan---much more serious fare, but just as masterfully made.
No other year matches our current Best Picture race better than 1998. Many will say we've never seen films like these before. What to make of them? I give them 1998.
We have jarring tonal shifts---an abrupt, total reversal in
Parasite, another foreign production attempting to clear the hurdle for the first time, and a gradual one here in
Jojo Rabbit---that echo the tale of two halves in
Life is Beautiful. As with that film,
Jojo never truly sheds its comedic tones, which I think only bolsters its credentials. That playfulness underscores the tragedy and gives the entire running time a unified feel.
Once again, we must decide how to respond to such a treatment of the Holocaust and its immediate surroundings. The schism among
Jojo's audience (and critics) is real and vitriolic.
It pays to consider the wake
Life is Beautiful left behind. No less a Hitler satirist than Mel Brooks argued there are limits to such comedy. "The philosophy of the film is, people can get over anything," he told
Der Spiegel. "No, you can't. You can't get over a concentration camp." Moreover, he said, none of Roberto Begnini's family perished there. The Italian could never comprehend its full nature.