Review of Cinema Paradiso (1988) by Ryan H — 22 Jul 2011

Ridiculously perfect. There are times where it feels like Tornatore is trying to capture real life, and other times he is trying to capture the film life within real life (if that makes sense?). Alfredo tells Salvatore the story of a man who says he will stand outside a woman's window for 100 days, and on the last day she will love him. After everything, on the 99th day he leaves. This story comes back within the film as the way Salvatore tries to get Elena to love him, except this time he stays. This was hands down my favorite part of the film because of the way it plays out. Salvatore as a kid asks Alfredo why he leaves on the 99th day, and Alfredo says he has no clue, and maybe one day Salvatore can explain it to him. No such luck, because he is living the life of the romantic movies rather than this strange story. As a kid he sees the kissing scenes in the films cut out by the priest of the town. He seems to be living these romantic scenes with Elena. When she leaves he looks up at the sky and says that if this were a movie then it would begin to storm and the scene would cut to her coming back. But it's not the movies. Well, yes it is, because here comes the storm, and here she is on top of him. The mixture of real life and movies is what makes this a completely unique viewing experience. Tornatore loves film, and he wants to dedicate his love within a completely unique way. He gives us strong characters to care about and situations that make us interested. Salvatore's dad is gone at war, and he wonders why he's not back since the war is over. His mother keeps saying that it takes years to come back from Russia, but he doesn't quite believe her. He knows his father is dead. This story is given just the right amount of time. Alfredo gets in caught in a fire caused by the film in the projection room of Cinema Paradiso, which causes him to be blind for the rest of his life. Nothing could be more difficult: to be a lover of film and not be able to see them anymore. Good thing he taught Salvatore how to project film. Earlier he says that Salvatore doesn't want to be a projectionist because it's a year round job with long hours. The only day off is Good Friday. Salvatore doesn't have a choice now, but he loves it. I loved the way the fire scene happened. Even though the film opens up with Salvatore's mom during modern day and she says that Alfredo just died, there was still a fear for his life. Or maybe it was a fear of something horrible happening to him because we love him so much. I loved the interactions between Salvatore and Alfredo. They are so real. The connection between the two is never said, but it's always seen.

**SPOILERS**.

When Salvatore goes back home for the first time in 30 years the waterworks started. He sees everything he had abandoned. But abandoned isn't really the word. We understand. Alfredo got lonely when Salvatore left for the army, so when he returned he understood that Salvatore had to leave the town in order to have a good life. This is when the director's cut would have been great to see. I think it's important to know that Elena came back if we are going to get the line about Alfredo saying "Salvatore can never know." Well, Salvatore can't know that Alfredo told Elena to leave Salvatore alone so he can have a full and beautiful life away from their town. This creates a more bittersweet feel to Alfredo. We miss him, but at the same time, this is the reason why Salvatore has slept around with women his whole life and never had a wife. What's more important, the love of film, or the love of a woman? Salvatore is a famous director, but that hasn't made him fully happy. It shows that Tornatore loves film to no ends, but he also understands the necessity of real life. One can't be without the other. I had tears in my eyes when the Nuovo Cinema Paradiso was being destroyed. Like Ciccio says, film isn't the same anymore. It was Salvatore's way of saying goodbye to his old life properly, and Tornatore saying goodbye to classic filmmaking. But we know this isn't a bad thing, it hurts, but we must move on. Beautiful. Everyone who loves film needs to see Cinema Paradiso!