Play, Rewind, Pause, Live

Cinema Paradiso (1988) directed by Giuseppe Tornatore, stars Jacques Perrin, Philippe Noiret, Leopoldo Trieste, Marco Leonardi, Agnese Nano and Salvatore Cascio. Toto recalls his younger years with a call from his mother back in his hometown of Sicily. Back when he was little, he served as an altar boy by day and a movie buff by night. Toto sneaks into the movie house while the priest makes the pre-viewing of the movies. Father rings the bell in every rising scene he sees. Alfredo, the film man then cuts the scenes for public viewing. Toto’s routine repeats everyday. He goes up to Alfredo in the film room and asks him for the cut films. Alfredo refuses Toto and promised him to collect it all someday as a gift, and forces him to go home. The naughty boy still manages to get some clips and collects it in his special box at home along with his parents’ pictures. Every night he views back what he got from the cinema and looks at his father’s images. Toto always ask about his dad who is a soldier assigned in Russia, and his mother always answers him positively. One night his mother caught him off guard outside the cinema and was very mad at him. He was asked to buy milk but he lied by saying he lost the money. He was beaten up because of that. Alfredo comes to the rescue and made excuses to save him. Their friendship starts with that and is followed by occasional covering up Alejandro does for Toto. Unfortunately, Toto’s trips to the movie house have to end with an accident that happened to his younger sister. His mother was furious that she forced Alejandro to promise not to let Toto into the cinema. One day at the national examination Toto and Alejandro cross ways again and this time it was the old man who needed help. Toto offered assistance in a condition that he will be allowed to enter the cinema and the film room again. Then they made a deal. Alejandro starts to teach Toto how to roll the film and eventually he lets Toto do the task alone. Things went on smoothly until one day the film room burned and injured Alejandro and made him blind and limp. Watching movies were very important for people at that time and the world never stopped with the accident. Ciccio eventually funded for the new Cinema Paradiso and made Toto, at a very young age, the film man. He does this until he became a teenager. He falls in love with Elena. He stalks her and films her.

Unfortunately, the girl is to be married to somebody else and her father disapproves Toto. Their love story had a tragic end, and Toto was advised by Alejandro to leave the town and move on. After 30 years, Toto becomes a popular film maker and received news back home about Alejandro’s death. He then returns home and became nostalgic about everything. Surprisingly, after all the years that passed he had never moved on at all. He is challenged now to choose between letting go on holding on. In the end, he chose the latter. The movie ends with Toto watching the compiled kissing clips that Alejandro promised to give when he was younger.

The movie showed a lot of real life symbols. First, the bell which rings in most transition serves as a wake up call. Second, the evolution of the movie industry and technology symbolize the changes in our lives. It shows that changes are constant and we all need to move forward. Third, the rolling of the film symbolizes the wheel of life; sometimes we are down but sometimes we go up. Lastly, the movie is a symbol of life. Like movies, life must be played forward and not backwards. Also, flashbacks are essential but nobody watches a movie in reverse. In life, living in the past hinders us to enjoy the rest of what life has to offer and it is important that we learn to let go at times.

Tornatore’s director style is also observed. The use of a child as protagonist like his other movie, Malena was very evident. The music is more or less the same. The mixture of drama and comedy is also obvious in both films.

Overall it is a very good film though it is very long all the time sitting there was worth it.