Title: The Tiger and the SnowRelease Date: 05/08/2007
Label/Distributor: Hart Sharp
Rating: Unrated
Retail Price: $24.98
Genre: Art House & International Cast: Nicoletta Braschi, Jean Reno, Roberto Benigni, Tom Waits, Lucia Poli
Director: Roberto Benigni
Running Time: 110
DVD Video Options: Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen
DVD Audio Options: English, Original Language
UPC Code: 829567043523
Soon after the start of hostilities in Iraq, Rome-based, lovestruck poet and lecturer Attilio heads to Baghdad when he learns from his friend, an Iraqi poet, that the woman he loves has been critcally injured in a bomb explosion. Attilio does everything in his power to save her, risking his own life amidst the chaos of war. A winning blend of comedy and tragedy, The Tiger and The Snow is also a highly charged polemic against the futility of war.
The Tiger and the Snow
By Ed Hulse -- Video Business, 4/2/2007
HART SHARP

Street: May 8, Prebook: April 10
> This Benigni vehicle will need support to drum up awareness and interest past the filmmaker's core audience.
Although not quite as gripping as 1997's Life is Beautiful, Italian actor/auteur Roberto Benigni's latest film gives the manic performer plenty of opportunities to wring laughs from similarly heart-rending situations. The story line revolves around Italian poet and teacher Attilio de Giovanni (Benigni), who dreams incessantly about marrying literary researcher Vittoria (Nicoletta Braschi), who's writing a book about his friend Fuad (Jean Reno), an Arab poet. Arriving in Baghdad just as hostilities begin, Vittoria is seriously wounded and confined to a hopelessly ill-equipped hospital. Upon hearing this, lovestruck Attilio poses as a doctor, races to her bedside and attempts to procure the necessary supplies that will speed her recovery. Benigni's non-controversial, non-ideological film uses the Iraq conflict as a backdrop, not a cause celebre. Tiger and the Snow is simply a seriocomic tale of unrequited love that gives the Italian comic a perfect vehicle for his Chaplinesque blending of humor and pathos.
Shelf Talk: Life is Beautiful won three Oscars and grossed $224 million worldwide. Tiger hasn't fared nearly as well; its global box-office take was little more than a tenth as much, and its token U.S. release (on four screens) earned less than $10,000. The Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists bestowed upon the film two of its prestigious Silver Ribbons—for Best Story and Best Music—but otherwise Tiger hasn't picked up any major awards. Furthermore, Benigni's antics at the 1999 Academy Awards ceremony have long since receded into memory. Thus, this movie's performance will largely depend upon the extent to which Hart Sharp's advertising campaign reintroduces him to American consumers.
Comedy/drama, color, NR (mature themes, mild violence, language), 110 min., DVD $24.98, Italian, Arabic and English with English subtitlesExtras: cast/filmmaker interviews, deleted scenes, featurette
Director: Roberto Benigni
First Run: W Int'l., Jan. 2006, $24 mil.



















