'Life is beautiful' has caused a great deal of controversy - and an acrimonious debate that Benigni's thematic and cinematic treatment of the Holocaust as comedy has engendered. Althought the film caused a scandal because of its comic treatment of one of the most serious topics of the twentieth century, those familiar with Benigni's work know that this strategy has always been deadly serious, exposing corruption, commenting on the bankrupt social and political institutions