Roman Polanski's The Pianist By: Kiran Karmarkar December 22, 2006
I'd like to recommend not one, but three things. Two films I'd absolutely recommend are Roman Polanksi's The Pianist and Roberto Benigni's Life Is Beautiful. Both were Oscar winners and are brilliant.
The Pianist narrates the restrictions the Nazis placed on the Jews most poignantly, while Life Is Beautiful is about a hapless father helping his son survive the horrors of a Jewish concentration camp and is most touching.
Both have some brilliant histrionics. The third thing I'd like to recommend is one of the most beautiful and endearing books I have read, Prakash Narayan Sant's Vanwas.
This Marathi book is somewhat like R K Narayan's Malgudi Days. Sant's tale is set on the Maharashtra-Karnataka border and relates everyday life in the most wonderful manner.