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Life Is Beautiful (1979 film)

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Life Is Beautiful
Directed byGrigory Chukhray
Written byGiovanni Fago
Augusto Caminito
Grigory Chukhray
Gianfranco Clerici
StarringGiancarlo Giannini
Ornella Muti
Stefano Madia
Enzo Fiermonte
Luigi Montini
CinematographyMikhail Bits
Luigi Kuveiller
Music byArmando Trovajoli
Production
companies
Mosfilm, Quattro Cavalli Cinematografica, RAI
Distributed byVariety Distribution

Life Is Beautiful (Italian: La vita è bella, Russian: Жизнь прекрасна, romanizedZhizn prekrasna, also known as Betrayed) is a 1979 Italian-Soviet romantic drama directed by Grigory Chukhray.[1][2]

Plot

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The action takes place in an unnamed country (in foreign versions of the film the country is Portugal during Salazar's reign), ruled by a military junta which violently suppresses any free thought. Antonio Murillo is a former military pilot who was dismissed from the army for refusing to sink a ship loaded with refugees. Now he drives a taxi and periodically becomes a witness to the despotism of the authorities. His girlfriend Mary, waitress, is a member of an underground movement fighting against the dictatorship. Antonio, for all his dislike of the junta is not interested in politics, his dream is to save money and to become a pilot again, and to own a private plane. But once he drives a man on his taxi, who turns out to be on the side of the opposition. This causes him to come to the attention of the special services. Because of that provocateur he ends up going to prison, where there are several members of the underground and ends up subjected to torture. Through ingenuity and mechanic skills he manages to save the life of underground fighters, disrupting the arranged provocation caused by the warden, and then organize an escape from prison. Together with Maria, Antonio in a stolen taxi gets away from the police, and then uses a hijacked plane to leave the country.

Cast

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References

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  1. ^ Roberto Chiti; Roberto Poppi; Enrico Lancia. Dizionario del cinema italiano: I film. Gremese, 1991. ISBN 8876059350.
  2. ^ Martin Connors; Jim Craddock (August 1999). VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever 2000. Visible Ink Press, 1999. ISBN 1578590426.
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