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“Don’t come back. Don’t give in to nostalgia. Forget us all.”
Introduction
Movie’s Name - Cinema Paradiso
Directed by - Giuseppe Tornatore
Genre - Drama
Original Language - Italian
Running time - 2 hrs 04 mins
Synopsis - Spoiler Alert!
Salvatore, called Toto by the people of his native Sicilian village, is a man in his 50s, a successful director living in Rome. He gets a call from his mother saying that Alfredo has died and the funeral is the next day.
Hearing this news, Salvatore starts reminiscing the past days of his youth, of Alfredo the projectionist, of the paradise cinema.
Salvatore’s flashback takes us back to the time during WW2. Toto, being a very curious kid, often spends his time in Cinema Paradiso, the only movie theatre in town, watching movies and secretly learning the operations of the projector by observing Alfredo very intently.
Since Toto’s father hasn’t returned from the war and is probably dead, Toto finds a sense of fatherly love in his friendship with Alfredo and develops a love for films while spending time with him.
One day, fire breaks out in the projection booth. Alfredo, saved by Toto, gets badly burned and loses his eyesight. After that, the work of the projectionist gets handed to Toto.
Years pass by and now Toto is all grown up and in high school, still working in the cinema. He falls in love with Elena who has just moved to the town. He wins her affection through his efforts only to be disapproved by her father in the end.
Elena moves away and Toto goes for his compulsory military service. All connection gets lost between them, the letters he writes to her always return undelivered.
After he returns to the town, he goes to see Alfredo who urges him to leave the town and go where he can realise his dreams, his destiny to be successful in the film industry and to never look back or return to the town again.
After 30 years of never looking back, Toto finally returns to the town for Alfredo’s funeral. The town has changed completely and now he understands why Alfredo told him to leave. The Cinema Paradiso, the theatre that was once the soul of the whole town, is to be demolished to make way for a parking lot.
Alfredo’s wife tells Toto that Alfredo has left something for him- an unlabeled reel. When he returns to Rome, he watches the reel and is left with overwhelming emotions. The reel contained all the kissing scenes that were cut from the movies by the priest’s order, put together by Alfredo.
About the Movie
Cinema Paradiso was released on 17th November 1988 in Italy. The film has 3 versions- original version released in Italy at 155 mins didn’t do well in the native box office, which led to it being shortened to 124 mins for international release and was an instant success.
This international version even won the Special Jury Prize at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival and the 1989 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. Later in 2002, a director’s cut 173-minute version was released.
Movie Review
Cinema Paradiso is not a mere theatre for the town’s people, it’s the town’s very soul where they all gather, night after night, to escape to the wonderland of movies, away from their realities.
A cinema where romance buds in the darkest corners, drunkards enjoy their evening drinks, babies are fed and put to sleep, where everyone laughs loudly at the funny scenes and boo when the critical scenes of romantic kisses, amongst other things, are censored.
The movie shows true passion for cinema and shows it not in an extravagant way, but in the most realistic way, so simply natural that it almost feels as if it’s a memory of your own past.
You start to get a nostalgic feeling, you start to miss the times when there were projectors, reels and people watched movies in single screens, even if you were born in the era of everything digital and all kinds of technology. It’s almost like the movie casts a spell on you.
It’s a beautifully serene story of two mischievous souls bonding over their shared love for cinema. It doesn’t matter to them if the other one is a middle-aged man or an eight-year old boy.
It’s a rather perfect situation for them since one is childless and one is fatherless. So they each fill the other’s gaps and then fill any further crevices with films.
Alfredo is like an advisor for Toto, always throwing around ‘profound’ dialogues from different movies. In the director’s cut version, we discover that it was Alfredo who told Elena not to contact Toto because if they were to be together, then Toto wouldn’t be able to fulfill his destiny.
He even forbids Toto from returning to the small town. Alfredo was more proud of Toto’s success than his father ever would’ve been.
In the end, when the explosives go off and the building of the cinema starts falling apart, all the eyes, as they watch the theatre filled with their memories in every corner, their paradise, become filled with tears and overwhelming emotions.
The falling stones gave a sense of closure to the town’s people, for Toto, that they have to move on from their pasts in order to make way for new experiences and new passions.
The Bottom Line
Cinema Paradiso is the perfect tribute to cinema, a movie truly made for cinema-buffs. It makes you drool over the tranquility of a small Italian town. The story conveys perfectly the bittersweet feelings of separation, embracing our passions, moving on with life as it goes on. A true classic masterpiece.
IMDb ratings - 8.5 on 10
Written By - Sanjana Chaudhary
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