When "Life is Beautiful" was released in the United States in 1998, I wasn't as wild about the movie as many others were. I appreciated the tone of director/co-writer/star Roberto Benigni's film about a father shielding his young son from the horrors of a concentration camp, the premise seemed a trifle strained and sanitized.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/20/entertainment/life-is-beautiful-column/index.html