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This is a very beautiful movie that through a combination of
story, acting, cinematography, and music provides a heart warming
experience.
Director Giuseppe Tornatore brings the very simple story of
a famous movie director (played by Jacques Perrin) who looks
back on his life from when he was a young scamp (Salvatore Cascio)
in a small Sicilian village, through his teenage years (Marco
Leonardi), and his eventual return to his village as an adult.
The young Salvatore loved to hang out at the local church run
Cinema Paradiso and get under the feet of the long suffering
projectionist Alfredo (Phillippe Noiret). The two clash continually
but Salvatore eventually learns to run the projector and develop
further his love of movies. As a teenager we see him encounter
his first love, his first attempts at movie making, and the
inevitable pull of the big city lights. The movie builds to
its stirring ending when we see Salvatore return to his little
village as an adult and we experience the deep emotions
he feels from seeing the changes in everything that was once
so familiar to him.
There is nothing complicated in this story, no plot twists,
and no special effects, but it is a beautiful and uplifting
story, especially the relationship that develops between Alfredo,
the old projectionist and Salvatore, his young companion. The
cast give an honest performance (Salvatore Cascio capturing
our hearts right from the start as the child who could so easily
have just been annoying). The sets are not beautiful but capture
the mood of the sleepy Sicilian village perfectly. Morricone's
musical score is powerful and complements the rest of the tale
wonderfully.
For an even simpler indicator of whether this was a good movie
or not, I look back to see that I barely noticed that the film
was in Italian with English subtitles. The story was told so
well with images and sounds that the only times I remembered
the subtitles was during the scenes where a white background
made the white writing difficult to read.
A" must see" if you like beautiful and emotional
cinema.
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