Ah, Roberto Benigni... not only did you give me my favourite Oscar speech of all time (in which you declared your love for... who was it now? Oh yes... Everybody!), but you also gave us Life is Beautiful, an absolutely magical film.

For the first half of Life is Beautiful Guido (Benigni) chases after Dora (Braschi - Roberto's real life wife) by means so enthusiastic that you could almost forgive someone for finding him annoying - except for the fact that pretty much everyone else will find it endearing.

He does eventually win her over, which leads to the second part of the film, set a few years later when Italy has been occupied by Germany in World War II. Guido and his son Giosue are sent to a concentration camp, and Dora voluntarily follows. Guido has to use all the skills he put to good use in the first part of the film to keep his son from discovering the horrible truth about their situation.

Life is Beautiful deservingly won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in 1999. Benigni himself also won the Best Actor award that year.