“Cinema Paradiso”

The film Cinema Paradiso, which is  directed by Giuseppe Tornatore, is a fictional Italian film from 1988 which focuses on the recollection of a man's past, as the death of a childhood friend causes the protagonist, Salvatore Di Vita, to reminisce about life as a poor Italian boy from a poor Italian village. The film follows Salvatore as a young boy growing up without a father, who was killed in action during war times, as he finds escape and enjoyment in the village's movie theater, as well as a friend and companion in the theater’s projectionist, Alfredo. The relationship between Salvatore and Alfredo originally stems from their equal love for cinema and film, and evolves into a beautiful companionship where each character fills the voids in the others' life; Alfredo serving as a wise, guiding, and insightful father figure to Salvatore, and Salvatore serving as a friend and son figure who seems fill the voids of youth, education, and enjoyment that Alfredo is lacking. The companionship between the characters remains steadfast and strong throughout the film as it serves as the principal foundation that gives both Alfredo strength to accept and live with becoming impaired by blindness, as well as guides Salvatore through the struggles of love, desires, and dreams that accompany the life journey of growing up. Salvatore’s present day situation of “rags to riches” story is all credited to Alfredo's pleading to a young Salvatore to leave their poor village and it's humble promises, in which Alfredo's death triggers a present day Salvatore to reflect on his humble beginnings of life and the beautiful life impacting relationship he formed with his friend, as is depicted in the beautiful film, Cinema Paradiso.

Even though Salvatore, along with his experiences of life and his relationship with Alfredo, serve as the main characters and plots of the film, it is the movie theater, Cinema Paradiso, that stands as the underlying paramount theme and heart of the story. As the sub-plots of Salvatore and Alfredo occur throughout the film, it is in fact the theater and it's symbolism of community that steals the spotlight and serves as the film's most important underlying theme. The village theater, which eventually becomes named Cinema Paradiso, is the escape and unity that all the villagers, including Salvatore and Alfredo, desire and need during the difficult times of poverty and war. It is in the theater where the village comes together as a community; people pull jokes on each other, finish each others' famous rants of anger, have sex publicly, and engage and discuss with each other. As movie viewers who live in the 21^st century watch Cinema Paradiso they become exposed to almost a world they never knew existed. It is refreshing and even enlightening to witness how something such as a simple movie theater can serve as a community identity, as everyone in the community finds pride, association, identity, and most importantly unity, in a public institution as such the movie theater depicted in Cinema Paradiso.

I did fully enjoy the movie. It is usually with movies such as Cinema Paradiso in which I seem to find the most unexpected enjoyment in watching as I grow older, probably due to it's emphasis on the simple beauties of life and experiences. It is in everyday occurrences and experiences in which people become spoiled, such as falling in love, a simple conversation with an old friend, or having the opportunity to visit a favorite place of conversation and leisure such as a movie theater. It is films such Cinema Paradiso that when watching, removes it's viewers from their everyday constraints and occupiers and allows them, even if only for an hour or two, to remember and appreciate the simple beauties of life and experience that are always taken for granted.