Tiger and the Snow, The

Aroview: Italian jester Roberto Benigni unites comedy and tragedy within the throws of the Iraq war, playing a poet who follows his true love (real life squeeze Nicoletta Braschi) into the breach of a bombed-out Baghdad.

Grappling with the more pertinent, politically-charged elephant in the room that is the Middle East, Benigni reaches for the formula of his major success LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL, though any true antiwar pretensions are cast aside in favour of an optimistic, enduring love. As such, this will capture the imagination of those still enamored (and not irritated) by Benigni’s jovial, disarming charm.