Cinema Paradiso. I feel like it is an irony to be watching a classic film that delivers the story of an era of traditional stop motion films through a modern digital projection. Cinema Paradiso centers around the lives of those living in a remote village of Giancaldo where the very few source of entertainment for its’ town is the old Cinema Paradiso building with a projection booth manned by Alfredo, the projectionist.
A central theme of the film that keeps coming back to me is the perseverance of innocence. This can be seen in many scenes throughout, from the mother’s denial of the husbands’ death when mentioned by Toto, to Alfredo describing the lonely nature of being a projectionists and himself as a ‘nitwit’ who ‘never had any luck’ in hopes that Toto would reconsider his interest in the projection machines, and to Alfredo’s interference of Toto’s love life. It is not only the innocence of Toto but also the town of Giancaldo through the eyes of the local priest that cloaks any form of amore to preserve his virtuous little town.
Love, an emotion, a state of being, a thread that cements the people of the town. The towns people’s love for film brought the whole generation together, from children to the elderly. A priest to the town. A man to the towns’ square. A town to the cinema. A child to the films. Mother to child. Passionate youths to each other.
I believe that love is a powerful emotion and although Alfredo was not the father of Toto, it certainly seems like it was the kind of love that has been portrayed throughout the whole film. Gestalt explains that proximity and similarity are one of the accounts for the success of an interpersonal relationship by having them close by and having likenesses with others (Brownell, 2010). Maybe it was the small town and high occurrence between Alfredo and Toto, or maybe it was how much Alfredo sees himself in Toto, either way, it made their relationship and Toto grew up with a father figure (as it seems) to look up to. This loyal friendship, an unconditional love that Alfredo has proven from the moment he helped Toto with the missing money, allowed Toto to grow up into the man that he is. Despite the death of his father, the loss of Alfredo’s eyesight, the young love that shredded his naive heart and the simple life as a projectionist and all these helped the little child to dream, to hope and to look only at the bright side of things.
It is unlikely that many can agree with the notion that all these scenes were to portray the perseverance of the innocence of a child as we can see that despite his career success as a film maker, ultimately, he did not find the same feat in his intimate life. This is where the element of reality sets in in this film, that despite the effort that we put in (i.e. standing under someone's window for 99 days straight), does not put everything into the motion that we desire it to be.
A classic film such as this delivers a renewed perspective on how films were shot and conveyed back in the days. The film shots of this movie mainly focused on close ups; photos on the wall, video of Elena, the hands that thread the projection machines, the facial close shots of Toto. It shows progress, it shows nostalgia to the audience of the film, highlighting the important aspect of conveying the message of intimacy (an emotional distance between the actors and the audience). The soundtrack was also the major highlight of the production, providing the additional mood transitions to the scenes. Such as the unadulterated beauty of the final kissing montage threaded by the late Alfredo, that after leaving Giancaldo and holding on to the promise of “Do not give in to nostalgia, forget us all” made to him by Alfredo, finally, then was Toto able to give in into his 30 years of nostalgia (delivering to us, the audience, the same emotions as to the song and of Toto).
Siti Nur Asyiqin Samsudin.
References:
Brownell, P. (2010) Gestalt therapy: A guide to contemporary practice. New York, NY: Springer Publishing.
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