Cinema Paradiso

                                  Cinema Paradiso by Giuseppe Tornatore

Cinema Paradiso tells the story of Salvatore a famous Italian director who comes to learn that Alfredo an old friend and projectionist from back home has died.  He is unsure of whether he should return home for the funeral, as he hasn’t been home in over 30 years. Over the course of the night he reminisces over his childhood and how Alfredo had shaped him from the young unruly boy into the man he is today. Salvatore returns home to attend the funeral and he realized why Alfredo swore him years ago to leave home and never return. His hometown held nothing for him there it would only hold him back from his true potential as a filmmaker.

While home Alfredo sees many people from his childhood who have spent their whole lives in town never leaving which is when he realized Alfredo wished him to avoid this fate, which was also Alfredo’s fate as well. Alfredo’s widow gives Salvatore a film reel after the funeral, which he plays when he gets back to Rome. The film reel is a collection of all the romantic scenes, which were cut out of films because of the religious censor of a local priest. Watching this film along with his visit helps him make peace with his past and hopefully makes him a better person.

After watching the film I have come to understand that the main themes of Cinema Paradiso deal with nostalgia of the past and also a celebration of film and film history. The majority of the film takes place as a dream sequence in which he reminisces on how one man had a major influence in his life.  These dreams are reflections into his past but also onto the attitude in which we view the past in a more positive light over time. Events that had been particularly painful seem to be brushed quickly by other moments of beauty and pleasure.

The second theme is about film and film history. The film also works as a celebration to the power and wonder of films. Through his yearning for watching films as a child through his time as a projectionist at Cinema Paradiso many great films are shows to audiences and the wonder and magic is shown to us through the joy and entertainment created by the audience.

I really appreciated this film because I am always a fan of movies that deal with movies and I really love how they showed Salvatore’s job as projectionist because the inner working of a movie theater have always seemed mysterious and at the same time magical. The idea of him finding a father figure was very emotional to me as I had a similar upbringing as Salvatore so I found the film to be a quite emotional experience that overall was extremely rewarding.