MovieChat Forums > Central do Brasil (1998) Discussion > Better than Life is Beautiful

Better than Life is Beautiful


Still today, I can't accept the fact that Central Station lost the Best Foreign Language Oscar for Roberto Benigni's Life is Beautiful. It's much more engaging and moving than Benigni's fairy tale.

Not to mention Fernanda Montenegro gives her best performance ever! It's simply outrageous that she lost for Gwyneth Paltrow, but Benigni won over Ian Mckellen and Edward Norton.

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I think that the worst of 98 Oscars was the fact that Fernanda Montenegro lost the award to Gwyneth Paltrow. She was technicaly perfect in Central Station and her perfomance was one of the most touching that I've ever seen. I watched this movie a thousand times and it still one of my favorites. In other hand, I can't say that Life is Beautiful is a bad movie, but at the end of the film, with that american tank, I wonder if Benigni wasn't trying to be comercial. About Paltrow she is flat, and always do the same character. Her new releases proved that she is far away of a best actress!

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Although I haven't seen "Life is Beautiful", I have been told that "Central Station" is better. I really love this film. It is one of the most touching film I have ever seen. Fernanda Montenegro gives an exquisite performance. The ending, although kind of bitter-sweet, is appropriate. Another example of how films outside the Hollywood machine are far better.

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Well I'd like to advocate that this film was more in the "Hollywood Machine" than you give it credit for. Central Station has the traditional "rite of passage" plot with the cheesy "unlikely friends" added in for sentimentality. The story is predictable and leaves the audience nice and happy at the end. Bleuch! And that's just the story. The characters were erratic and unrealistic. They liked eachother then hated eachother, then hitched a ride with a trucker, then got into a big fight in the crowd, then worked together at the carnival. The idea of Josue's father being that responsible is unfeasible and seems to have been put in for the touching moment when they open the letter.
I think the idea that this is even comprable to Life Is Beautiful is laughable. The themes of this film surround the Brazilian idea that family is where happiness is. In contrast, Life is Beautiful relates the power of a fatherly bond in the face of insurmountable odds. Both have a little kid. That's about all of the similarities between the two.
I think that Central Station is a decent film with some solid acting work, but certainly is not worthy of any awards. In comparison to Pixote, for example, it's a feelgood movie with a boring plot. Pixote at least let the audience form its own opinions. Well I certainly feel that this film is worth a go, but pales in comparison to the integrity of a good social commentary.

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I completely desagree with you. I think "Life is Beautiful" is a "Hollywood" movie. No wonder it got more nominations than a piece of art like "The Truman Show", an American film that is everything but Hollywood.

You say that the characters were erratic, but that is why this isn't a Hollywood movie. You can expect predictable characters in a Hollywood movie, but not here. Yes, they like each other and they hate each other, typical characteristic of a love-hate relationship.

In a tradicional and conventional Hollywood film, the boy would stay with the old woman. In that way, everybody would be happy: the boy found a mother/father in the lady, she found a chance to be a mother. The audience would be pleased. But this is not a Hollywood movie, and it does not end as we might expect.

All in all, this is a terrific film that is far superior to superficial Hollywood films.

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Politics people! Anyway, I only saw the first half of Central Station, but I wasn't that impressed. It was mildly amusing, but I felt that was about it. Life Is Beautiful, on the other hand, had me smiling the whole through, and I can unashamedly say I cried upon the arrival of the tank. Just the way his ridiculous fairytale somehow came true for the boy... Oh I don't know... Maybe if I saw the end of Central Station I could give a better opinion.

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Tinha que ser você, Eumenides !!

Quer saber ? Que tal você assistir este filme:

O HOMEM QUE COPIAVA

depois, vá até a página dele e diga o que achou, ok ?

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I'm not sure how everyone is going about deciding which is "better", Life is Beautiful or Central Station. I really liked both, but I definitely think that Life is Beautiful is more daring than Central Station, because a lot of people still believe that comedy and the Holocaust should not be put together. However Life is Beautiful does that, and does it very well.

And although I agree that Hollywood is often biased towards Zionists (and as an Arab I think twice about watching Holocaust movies because I do think the theme has been over-exploited, and for all the wrong reasons), I still think that Life is Beautiful was a wonderful movie and that it did deserve an Oscar (whereas Schindler's List, for example, did not).

I watched Central Station two nights ago, and I really liked it, but I don't think it should have won over Life is Beautiful.

********************
-Tu écris?
-Non, je refléchis.

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Just saw "Life is Beautiful" ... and it definitely moved me ... I think both are excellent movies ... "Central Station" remains my favourite ... guess it just impacted me more. Nothing more.

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I liked "Life Is Beautiful" most.
As a brazilian, sometimes I get tired of movies about poverty. I dunno, it depens, like, I really liked City Of God and Motorcycle Diaries, but I didn´t liked Central... btw, now that I mencionated Motorcycle Diaries, just came to my mind that Meirelles got it right on Motorcycle Diaries what he tried to do in Central Station, wich is trying to show a jouney of two persons. Anyway, I tought "Life Is Beautiful" was more clever, I understand why non-brazilian people would think that Central Station was a big movie and stuff, but here, it just seemed to me "another brazilian movie"...
Sry if I offend anyone...

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Umm, realistic? Life is Beautiful actually happened man. Read the epilogue...

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Geez, where are you from?

Like one religious sect really determines the economy of the United States. Get real.

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