"Life is Beautiful" Mockery of the Holocaust?

Directed By Roberto Benigni.
Written By Vincenzo Cerami And Robert Benigni.

Did you ever think you would laugh at a movie about the Holocaust? Is it morally wrong to include comedy in a movie about the most tragic times in our world's history? Life is Beautiful has offended "some left-wing critics" and "the right wing in Italy."

The movie uses comedy, as Roger Ebert would agree, as a way of expressing the human spirit; remembering the little joy that shined through the darkest of times. Comedy is in no way intended to disguise the horrors of the Holocaust, merely to explain that no evil-no matter how horrible- can destroy the essence of the human soul. The movie shows "how Guido (main character) uses the only gift at his command to protect his son. If he had a gun, he would shoot at the Fascists. If he had an army, he would destroy them. He is a clown, and comedy is his weapon."