Editing Life Is Beautiful (section)

== Production ==
[[File:Badia delle sante flora e lucilla, arezzo, 02.JPG|thumb|The film was shot in [[Arezzo]], [[Tuscany]], including by the [[Badia delle Sante Flora e Lucilla]].]]
Director [[Roberto Benigni]], who wrote the screenplay with [[Vincenzo Cerami]], was inspired by the story of [[Rubino Romeo Salmonì]] and his book ''In the End, I Beat Hitler'', which incorporates elements of irony and [[black comedy]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/8631266/Life-Is-Beautiful-Nazi-death-camp-survivor-dies-aged-91.html |title=Life Is Beautiful Nazi death camp survivor dies aged 91 |last=Squires |first=Nick |date=11 July 2011 |access-date=11 September 2016 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160323074652/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/8631266/Life-Is-Beautiful-Nazi-death-camp-survivor-dies-aged-91.html |archive-date=23 March 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Salmoni was an Italian Jew who was deported to Auschwitz, survived and was reunited with his parents, but found his brothers were murdered. Benigni stated he wished to commemorate Salmoni as a man who wished to live in the right way.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.unmondoditaliani.com/e-morto-romeo-salmoni-luomo-che-ispiro-benigni-per-la-vita-e-bella.htm |title=E' morto Romeo Salmonì: l'uomo che ispirò Benigni per La vita è bella |last=Paradiso |first=Stefania |date=10 July 2011 |access-date=11 September 2016 |work=Un Mondo di Italiani |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304105919/http://www.unmondoditaliani.com/e-morto-romeo-salmoni-luomo-che-ispiro-benigni-per-la-vita-e-bella.htm |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> He also based the story on that of his father Luigi Benigni, who was a member of the [[Italian Army]] after Italy became a co-belligerent of the Allies in 1943.{{sfn|Norden|2007|p=146}} Luigi Benigni spent two years in a Nazi labour camp, and to avoid scaring his children, told about his experiences humorously, finding this helped him cope.{{sfn|Piper|2003|p=12}} Roberto Benigni explained his philosophy, "to laugh and to cry comes from the same point of the soul, no? I'm a storyteller: the crux of the matter is to reach beauty, poetry, it doesn't matter if that is comedy or tragedy. They're the same if you reach the beauty."<ref name="Logan">{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/1999/jan/29/awardsandprizes |title=Does this man really think the Holocaust was a big joke? |last=Logan |first=Brian |date=29 January 1999 |access-date=11 September 2016 |work=[[The Guardian]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160924162505/https://www.theguardian.com/culture/1999/jan/29/awardsandprizes |archive-date=24 September 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> The names of the protagonists are instead taken from Dora De Giovanni and Guido Vittoriano Basile, uncles of Nicoletta Braschi; Basile, arrested for his anti-fascist activity, died in the [[Mauthausen concentration camp]], a fate similar to that of the protagonist of the film of the same name, a fact that turned Dora's life upside down.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://issuu.com/franco.dellamore/docs/dora_de_giovanni | title=Dora de Giovanni, un soprano cesenate per Pietro Mascagni by Franco dell'Amore - Issuu | date=12 April 2015 }}</ref>

His friends advised against making the film, as he is a comedian and not Jewish, and the Holocaust was not of interest to his established audience.<ref name="Okwu">{{Cite web |url=http://edition.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Movies/9810/23/life.is.beautiful/index.html |title='Life Is Beautiful' through Roberto Benigni's eyes |last=Okwu |first=Michael |date=23 October 1998 |access-date=11 September 2016 |work=[[CNN]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160918151408/http://edition.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Movies/9810/23/life.is.beautiful/index.html |archive-date=18 September 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Because he is [[Gentile]], Benigni consulted with the Center for Documentation of Contemporary Judaism, based in [[Milan]], throughout production.<ref name="Stone">{{Cite journal |url=https://bostonreview.net/film/alan-stone-escape-auschwitz |title=Escape from Auschwitz |last=Stone |first=Alan A. |date=1 April 1999 |access-date=11 September 2016 |journal=[[Boston Review]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160904170335/http://bostonreview.net/film/alan-stone-escape-auschwitz |archive-date=4 September 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> Benigni incorporated historical inaccuracies in order to distinguish his story from the true Holocaust, about which he said only documentaries interviewing survivors could provide "the truth".<ref name="Logan"/>

The film was shot in the ''centro storico'' (historic centre) of [[Arezzo]], [[Tuscany]]. The scene where Benigni falls off a bicycle and lands on [[Nicoletta Braschi]] was shot in front of [[Badia delle Sante Flora e Lucilla]] in Arezzo.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/travel/destinations/life-truly-is-beautiful-in-tuscanys-underappreciated-arezzo/article30201417/ |title=Life truly is beautiful in Tuscany's underappreciated Arezzo |last=Warkentin |first=Elizabeth |date=30 May 2016 |access-date=12 September 2016 |work=[[The Globe and Mail]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160912044941/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/travel/destinations/life-truly-is-beautiful-in-tuscanys-underappreciated-arezzo/article30201417/ |archive-date=12 September 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> The concentration camp was set in an old abandoned factory near [[Papigno]] ([[Terni]]) that was converted into a concentration camp for filming.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://movie-locations.com/movies/l/Life-Is-Beautiful.php | title=Filming Locations for la Vita e Bella (Life is Beautiful) }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.vivoumbria.it/papigno-dalle-fabbriche-inquinanti-a-la-vita-e-bella-e-quel-salto-da-oscar/ | title=Papigno, dalle fabbriche inquinanti a la vita è bella e quel salto da Oscar | date=21 March 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://saltaconmigo.com/blog/2017/11/arezzo-localizaciones-la-vida-es-bella/ | title=8 localizaciones de la vida es bella en Arezzo: Tras los pasos de Benigni… | date=22 November 2017 }}</ref> The "prize" tank is an [[M4 Sherman]].

===Music===
{{Main|Life Is Beautiful (soundtrack)}}
The original [[Film score|score]] to the film was composed by [[Nicola Piovani]],<ref name="Rooney"/> with the exception of a classical piece which figures prominently: the [[barcarolle]] "[[Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour]]" by [[Jacques Offenbach]]. The soundtrack album won the [[Academy Award for Best Original Score|Academy Award for Best Original Dramatic Score]]<ref name="Oscars1999"/> and was nominated for a [[Grammy Award]] for [[Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media|Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media]].