Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Love and injury in time of war. Attilio de Giovanni teaches poetry in Italy. He has a romantic soul, and women love him. But he is in love with Vittoria, and the love is unrequited. Every night he dreams of marrying her, in his boxer shorts and t-shirt, as Tom Waits sings. Vittoria travels to Iraq with her friend, Fuad, a poet; they are there with the second Gulf War breaks out. Vittoria is injured. Attilio must get to her side, and then, as war rages around him, he must find her the medical care she needs. In war, does love conquer all?
Roberto Benigni's follow-up to Life is Beautiful attempts a similarly audacious blend of whimsy and tragedy, this time set against the Iraq War. The film's central conceit—a love-struck poetry professor navigating wartime Baghdad—is genuinely distinctive, mixing surreal dream sequences, Tom Waits cameos, and sincere romantic yearning in a way few films attempt. Benigni's performance is committed and charming, though the supporting cast is less developed. Cinematography is competent but not particularly striking. The plot grows somewhat meandering as it tries to sustain its tonal balancing act over its runtime. The ending, while emotionally intended to be affecting, feels unearned and deflating rather than cathartic, failing to resolve the tonal tension the film builds. The novelty of its conception—poetry, war, unrequited love, absurdist comedy—remains its strongest asset.