We strive forward for our lives, but just how often are you
willing to look back, and bathe in the warm currents of nostalgia? I am going
to indulge this time, and share with you the great Italian film ‘Cinema
Paradiso’ (1988), one of my childhood favorites. A huge critical success and
the winner of the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, ‘Cinema Paradiso’
represents a high point of Italian Cinema, and show us the wonderful gifts of
inspirations, especially when that takes place in childhood.
The story is about Salvatore Di Vita, a well-established Italian
film director, and his childhood memories. He learnt of the death of an ‘Alfredo’,
and sadness raged over his mind because this Alfredo was so important to him. When
Salvatore was young, he has developed a fascination with movies and frequently
visited the local theater, ‘Cinema Paradiso’. Though he was a little brat, he
soon won the hearts of the old film projectionist, Alfredo (yes there was an
era when film has to be projected). Alfredo worked hard to do his work and brought
hours of entertainment to the audience, but it was not always well-received.
Why? Because where movies exist, censors exist. The juicy love-making and
kissing scenes were censored out by the local church, and ended up on the
cutting room floor. Alfredo also showed Salvatore the trade by teaching him to
operate the film projector. Quite unfortunately, a fire broke out some time
later and Alfredo became blind due to an explosion of the nitrate film. Salvatore
soon had to take up Alfredo’s job as the film projectionist, and when he grew
up, he experienced a doomed romance, and started shooting experimental films
with his movie cameras. The old daddy Alfredo gave the young man an advice –
it’s time to leave the small town and try your luck at the big cities, and
don’t look back. Salvatore submitted to this and kept his promise, but he
couldn’t afford not to pay Alfredo any tribute. When Alfredo came back to the
old town, the place of his origin, he learnt that Cinema Paradiso has long
closed down and Alfredo has left him a special gift, a film reel. Salvatore watched it when he returned to
Rome. A truly tear-jerking moment: Alfredo has spliced all the censored love
scenes from the old films and assembled them into a montage of passion and
nostalgia. The only justice Salvatore could afford was his tears in his eyes…
The case of looking back
Salvatore and Alfredo were both men of principles. They were
both willing to keep their promises and to stand firm in their beliefs. Alfredo’s
advice to Salvatore was heartfelt and indeed selfless because he attempted to
break the chains of relation between himself and Salvatore, which would prove
so essential to Salvatore’s future career. Alfredo wanted this because he
believed that the only mean to fully realize oneself is to look forward and
catch one’s dreams, rather than lingering with the after thoughts of the past. While
this notion has positive lights, I have to disagree. There is no problem of
looking back at all. Human wisdom is constructed, brick by brick, by various sharp-minded
individuals throughout history, the result is a bridge of wisdom that connects
the past and future. Whenever Salvatore consulted Alfredo for advice, Alfredo
loved to quote examples from old films that would inspire Alfredo as a result.
Without a James Stewart and Gary Cooper from the past, what can we model on
nowadays? I agree that being nostalgic can often induce sadness – like when Alfredo
lamented that ‘Progress always comes late’ upon the arrival of non-combustible
films. One can feel bad about the transience of things, yet this is a passage
we can’t stop. It is just at great a spiritual gift when one can identify with
his own origin, and find inspirations from others throughout history. Indeed,
it is all about respecting others’ great work – why think yourself as a genius
when Stroheim has done that a 100 years ago?
The elegance of montage
One of my favorite moments of ‘Cinema Paradiso’, which I
believe many will feel the same way, is the wonderful techniques ever committed
to cinema, and I have always been fascinated by this. By splicing individual
images together, you generate a totality, an organic unity where the viewer can
derive the meanings from. You see, the film parts which Alfredo has used to
make his masterpiece were those which were left on the projection room floor -
the sensual bits which had to give way to ‘moral principles’ in a more
traditional era. But aren't those parts the ones humans are most associated
with, aren't those what art is really for? Alfredo’s editing masterpiece seems
to abstract the most important aspect of human life – the compassion that
connects all of us together, that provides us the courage to move on. And this spirit is something that has truly
transcended time, even at a time when a motion picture camera can be conceived
of at all.
At the end, Salvatore is alone in the cinema. But he is not
really alone – all the sweet memories have come back to him. Time may have
passed, yet the fascination is still in the air.
By Ed Law
2/5/2015
Film Analysis - 43
