|
Everything that has become Italian film-making clichés can be found in
Giuseppe Tornatore's "Cinema Paradiso." Originally released in 1989,
and nominated for an Oscar for best foreign-language film, the movie has
been re-released today as a directory's cut, with a whopping 57 minutes
added, bringing it to only moments shy of three hours. But the effort was
worth it, as the movie virtually reinvents itself, while remaining true
to its original rendition. The story's themes of puritanical censorship,
male coming of age in post-WWII Italy, and a heart-felt tribute to the
role of cinema in every day life, have all been expanded to more acutely
emphasize the depths and intertwining relationships among them.
The first two-thirds of the film takes place as a flashback memory of a
current-day filmmaker named Salvatore, who learns that his good friend,
and father-figure, Alfredo, has died. Alfredo was the projectionist
at the Cinema Paradiso, the only movie theater in the small Sicilian
town where Salvatore grew up. Salvatore's father had died in the war,
and his mother and home were frequently vacant as well, so the young boy
spent most of his time at the Cinema Paradiso, watching Hollywood movies
nightly. Here, he and the rest of the town would escape from life through
Hollywood movies, only the young Salvatore was also learning about life
through the projector's lens. He and the good-intentioned, but simpleton,
Alfredo become best of friends, and together, they would watch films from
the projectionist's booth, while the town paisanos come to laugh, cry,
socialize and hiss whenever the local priest censored the kissing scenes.
When Salvatore comes of age, he falls in love for the first time
with a young woman named Elena with the romantic simplicity and
fantastical perception learned from the movies he's seen. Alfredo,
concerned for Salvatore's emotional well-being, advises the young man
to leave the small town and go make something of himself in the real
world, rather than throw it all away for a love that will never come
to pass. When a rendez-vous between Salvatore and Elena is missed,
the devastated Salvatore reluctantly follows the old man's advice and
heads to Rome. Thirty years later, when he learns of Alfredo's death,
he finally returns to the town he left - this time as a successful,
but unhappy filmmaker -and learns of what actually transpired on that
fateful day of his departure and missed rendez-vous.
While the original version of the film had the same basic storyline, the
emphasis was more on the role of "film" as a social element in people's
lives; the ending scene - which hasn't changed in the current release -
is more directly related to the storyline, giving it a simpler and more
heartfelt message. The new version emphasizes more of the relationship
between Alfredo and Salvatore, and Salvatore's love-that-almost-was
with Elena, drawing more attention to the theme of "good-intentions with
negative consequences," which wasn't in the original version. Both are
extremely good films, and different enough for warrant the true film
enthusiasm to see both once again. However, the latter film is much
deeper and more profound at the expense of being less lighthearted. Both
films celebrate the role of cinema - and life itself - and are inherently
optimistic in their outlook, if only for the fact that we, the audience,
can learn to appreciate the importance of love without the devastation
the characters in the film had to suffer.
|
|
