Cinema Paradiso

Cinema Paradiso is an Italian movie by Giuseppe Tornatore. The film is set in a small town in Italy and shows the life of a young boy growing up in this small town. When the film begins we see a grown man who gets the news that someone from his past has passed away. By the way the man reacts to the news; the audience can tell that he hasn’t seen this person in many years. We see the man’s mother trying to get in contact with him which is clearly not working. The film flashes back to the young boy’s life in this small Italian town. The boy is rambunctious and always getting into trouble. The boy falls in love with watching movies in the local town theater but is mother thinks it is just a waste of money, which they don’t have. The boy’s father went off to war but his mother is convinced that he will be coming home soon. The boy makes his way into the projection room where he meets Alfredo, the projection guy. Alfredo becomes a father figure to the boy and with much convincing, shows the boy everything he needs to know to work in the projection room. Years later after a horrible fire that blinds Alfredo and burns down the theater, the town rebuilds a better theater and Alfredo come back into his life. The boy, who is all grown up now, is told by Alfredo that he needs to get out of this town and make something of his life and never look back. He ends up doing just that, he leaves his small home town and becomes a huge success.

           

The film goes back to the man from the beginning of the film coming back to his home town to pay his respects to the man who had such an influence on his, Alfredo. He sees all the people who were in his life while he was at the theater and he finally sees his mother and sister. Alfredo had such a huge impact on his life and he respected him when he said to never come back and make something of himself. The town is completely different and run down. The old theater was being knocked down and everything Alfredo said to him was right. He would have never had a life there. The only time he ever came back to the town was when he found out Alfredo passed away and everyone was so pleased to see him after all these years.

           

The major theme of this film would have to be love. The love that Alfredo had for Salvatore, he loved him so much that he made him leave and never come back in order to have a life. The love that his mother had from him that even after so many years of not talking to him she still tried to get in contact with him. When Salvatore was working in the theater he met a young woman who he fell in love with. She ended up leaving and going to college and once she left for the second time he never heard from her again. But while they were together they were inseparable, they were in love. The love that everyone had for the theater and each other in the town, the theme of love is woven throughout this entire film.

Personally I loved this film. I loved the way it was shot and being able to see the relationship between Alfredo and Salvatore was so beautiful. They would do anything for each other and they never forgot about each other. They way the town was so in love with the films at the theater were both comical and heartfelt. The town was able to forget about everything else and just have fun for a few hours a week. The love everyone had for one another was the best part of the film. I was definitely recommended this film to anyone who loves a great love story.