The Tiger and the Snow Film Review
November 4th 2006 03:48
pic from http://www.a-film.nl/film/poster/RELx550 /00001202.jpg
The effervescent Roberto Benigni is back in fine comedic form as a teacher of poetry in Rome who is willing to follow the woman he is in love with to Iraq and back in order to nurse her to good health after she has been affected by a roadside blast.
We later learn that the object of Attilio's affections doesn't return his feelings despite his best efforts to woo her. Vittoria decides to travel to Baghdad with a poet friend Fuad, leaving Attilio devastated.
pic from http://thecia.com.au/reviews/t/images/tiger- and-the-snow-la-tigre-e-la-neve-3.jpg
He learns that Vittoria is seriously injured and is lying in a coma in a Baghdad hospital, and shows up to the airport the next day asking for a ticket to Baghdad, much to the incredulity of the airport staff. One elderly male, passing off Attilio's inquiry as an anecdote to his wife, is then startled to see him dressed in a UN uniform on the news.
It turns out that Attilio has pretended to be a surgeon in order to gain passage with a UN convoy dispatched for Iraq, and the hilarity only increases as he arrives in Baghdad single-mindedly focussed on caring for his beloved, ignoring the obvious notes of societal dysfunction all around him.
pic from http://yourmovies.com.au/static/media/x300/ 131689_tiger_and_the_snow.jpg
Benigni's use of Baghdad as a backdrop for light-hearted comedy is very similar to 'La Vita E Bella''s treatment of a Holocaust camp in that the comedy happens despite the overwhelming bleakness of the surroundings, reaffirming his love of life and witty storylines. While 'The Tiger And The Snow' is a very watchable piece of entertainment, it doesn't offer an overwhelmingly new conceptual backdrop against which to view Benigni- he remains within his comfort zone of 'eccentric funnyman'.
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