Emir Kusturica has let his warm fuzzy side have the upper hand a bit too often in this one. The title is a dead giveaway: "La vie est un miracle/Life is a Miracle" is by turns whimsical, fey and heartwarming, so much so at times that one wants to reach for the insulin. The dark moments, and there are several (this IS Kusturica and it IS set in Bosnia, after all), come to feel like set-ups for more cloying sweetness - each time something truly awful seems to happen or be about to happen to one of the characters, the director chickens out with a "just kidding" scene. Nor is the story entirely convincing. Too bad - the actors are appealing and do a good job, and the Bosnian locations are gorgeous.
Review of Life Is a Miracle
