Roberto Benigni: the bright genius of cinema

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:45

This year, the famous actor, screenwriter and director Roberto Benigni turns 64 years old. For many years, this amazingly bright man of art has been helping the world look at troubles, difficulties, tragedies, injustice through the eyes of optimism.

Poverty and optimism

Roberto Benigni was born in 1952 in one of the most impoverished villages of Tuscany at that time called Misericordia. It became symbolic that this word is translated from Italian as mercy. The Benigni family eked out a miserable existence, but the cruelty and inflexibility of those times, which affected everyone equally, allowed his parents to remain optimistic and try to get on their feet. It was a particularly difficult period for his father. Sick, exhausted by hunger, constant wandering and looking for opportunities to earn money, Luigi could not even provide shelter for his family.

Shortly before the birth of Roberto, he had to go through the trials of a concentration camp, where he ended up by mistake. Despite all the sorrows that befell Luigi, he did not allow himself to lose heart, especially in the presence of children. On the contrary, gloomy eventshe tried to present his past easily and unpretentiously, often with humor, so that neither Roberto nor his sisters realized the tragedy of the trials that befell their father. Then, years later, Roberto realized how difficult these stories were for Luigi, but, appreciating the courage of his father and his bright outlook on life, he paid tribute to these stories in his brilliant creation called Life is Beautiful.

School? Cramming? Well, no, the future genius has a different path

Born in poverty and wandering, as a child, Roberto suffered from many diseases that lay in wait for him at every turn, was very short and too thin compared to his peers. However, in addition to a frail physique, he was distinguished from everyone else by his quickness of mind, vivid imagination and incredible activity. The virtues of Roberto's character were especially highly appreciated by the local clergyman, who led the school classes. It was he who contributed to the fact that the boy was soon placed to study at the Florentine Jesuit school. However, no matter how strong the joy of the parents, who could not even imagine that their son would study in such a place, Roberto did not last long among diligent students and made a real escape at the first opportunity.

The charm of magic in the circus

Voluntary wanderings led him to a traveling circus, the time spent in which he considers the happiest of his life. And how can one not be proud of such a grandiose stage in life: a twelve-year-old child got his first real job - an assistantillusionist. The impressionable boy really enjoyed being in the circus, the atmosphere of which was full of magic and unknown miracles. But having become better acquainted with the life of circus performers, Benigni came to the conclusion that he was not ready to work so hard for the sake of a new profession, since this work very much reminded him of boring training in a disgusting school.

Return to books inevitable

Returning to Roberto's native village was not easy. He devoted quite a lot of time to thinking about what to do where he grew up. Physical labor repelled no less than school cramming, there was no profession, so Roberto decided to direct his energy into a poetic channel. His signature style was eight-line poems, which quickly became beloved by the locals for their capacity, poignancy, and topicality. No sooner had Roberto become a local favorite than Rome beckoned him…

This city changed Benigni beyond recognition. Future colleagues in the creative craft treated him like an uncouth peasant who never held a book in his hands. Several times Roberto was painfully burned by his own ignorance, after which he had to change his attitude towards learning, and he began to devote all nights to the study of literature.

Good memory, quick wit, ability to analyze and notice the main thing did their job: a few months passed and Benigni turned into an interesting interlocutor who skillfully competed with erudite and arrogant Italians in the knowledge of the worldclassics.

Becoming an artist, first roles

In the future, success was not long in coming: a series of significant roles in theatrical productions, performances with satirical monologues, a fateful acquaintance with Giuseppe and Bernardo Bertolucci, who made a significant contribution to the formation of the artist Roberto Benigni, followed. The filmography of the genius was replenished with roles in the films of these outstanding directors: “Berlinguer, I love you” and “Moon”. 1990 brought him a role in Federico Fellini's film "Voice of the Moon". In the 80s and 90s, actor Roberto Benigni made his debut in American cinema, and also successfully directed his own films.

Life is beautiful

Truly triumphant was the release of the film "Life is Beautiful", which subsequently won three Oscars. Italy rejoiced along with Roberto Benigni himself. The photo of the artist's happy face adorned hundreds of publications. And his eccentric appearance on stage for an award has become almost a legend.

The life of Roberto Benigni is not only a story of creative success and genius, but also a story of great love. In 1991, actress Nicoletta Braschi became his wife, since then the couple has been inseparable.

Moreover, in relation to his wife, Roberto's eccentricity has reached the limit. In most of his films, it is Nicoletta who plays the main role, and most often he himself plays the role of a man in love with her. And this quirk of the genius artist is also admired by his devoted fans.