144. La Vita è Bella (Life is Beautiful) - Summer of '99 (#26)

Summary: Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guests Ethan Shattock and Gerard Rooney from Disconnected Talk, The 250 is a (mostly) weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released every Saturday at 6pm GMT. This time, continuing our Summer of '99 season, Roberto Benigni’s La Vita è Bella. 1999 was a great year for movies, with a host of massively successful (and cult) hits that would define cinema for a next generation: The Matrix, The Blair Witch Project, The Sixth Sense, 10 Things I Hate About You, Fight Club. The Summer of '99 season offers a trip through the year in film on the IMDb's 250. In mid-century Italy, lovable fool Guido embarks on a courtship of the beautiful Dora, a woman far outside of his station. As Italy descends into fascism, Guido hopes that his optimism will allow himself - and his family - to endure in the face of unimaginable evil. At time of recording, it was ranked 26th on the Internet Movie Database's list of the best movies of all-time.