Cinema Paradiso

We watched Cinema Paradiso for Artapre. I must admit, I did not like it at first. But as the film progresses, I started liking it. The film is basically about Salvatore, who as a child was very fascinated and interested in film. He met the film projectionist Alfredo, who later also taught him how to project film reels on the screen.

Salvatore and Alfred

Later in the film, it was showed that Alfredo got blind because of a fire accident in the movie house. Salvatore replaced him as a projectionist, and he was doing rather well at it. In his adolescent years, Salvatore met a fine young woman named Elena. He liked her so much, and they eventually became lovers. But things got in their way, and eventually they were separated.

The film was shown as flashbacks from the personal experiences or memories of Salvatore in his elderly years. But I honestly did not notice that until at the end of the film when an old man was shown. That was only the time when I realized that it was really a flashback. I think this is due to the transition they used for the frames. The transition for the frames was too abrupt. I think the director played with the camera angles quite well because the things that were needed to be emphasized were emphasized. There were good close-ups in the film. For example, Salvatore’s close-ups wherein he was longing for Elena.
close-up of Salvatore

I also liked the scenes which involved the long shots. For example, Salvatore coming out of the bus in the plaza. Medium shots were also used well when they wanted to direct the viewers’ attention to the interaction of the characters in the movie.

For me, the film was very simple, yet it managed to affect me as a film viewer; the movie got through me. I would admit that some things were touching, particularly the scenes towards the end of the film. I appreciated how they chose the setting, the background tunes, and the lightning. These elements were creatively manipulated to create the desired scenes which would elicit the necessary emotions from the viewers.

Ms. Castro also told us to stay during the rolling of the credits because we have to appreciate all the people behind the film. That is just proper because they all did their part and worked hard for the creation of the film.