THE POSTMAN
(IL POSTINO)
A film review by Ben Hoffman
Copyright 1995 Ben Hoffman
Philippe Noiret, the French actor who has been in dozens of films is perhaps best known in the U.S. as the projectionist in the wonderful 1990 film, CINEMA PARADISO. Here, as Pablo Neruda, he charms us once again, this time as a famous poet who has been exiled from his native Chile because of political reasons. He now makes his home on a small island in the Mediterranean. living in a secluded mountainous area where he will not be in frequent contact with the villagers and where he can write his poetry undisturbed.
IL POSTINO is the story of friendship and heartbreak.
Mario (Massimo Troisi) is the son of a fisherman but fishing is not to his taste. He thinks about emigrating but just then he is asked if he would like to be the personal postman to the poet. The area is out of the way of the regular postman but Mario is happy not to have to either emigrate nor fish.
In the beginning, Mario climbs the road to Neruda's home and shyly delivers the mail. Neruda, though polite, at first shows little interest in his personal mailman. As time passes he becomes a bit more friendly, intrigued by Mario's interest in Neruda's poetry and poetic manner of speaking. (While the film frequently refers to "metaphors" it is really "similes" that are being discussed. I suspect the translator of having confused the two ... but no matter.)
Mario's sole purpose in learning how to write poetry is to enchant his beautiful Beatrice (Maria Grazia Cucinotta) with whom he is in love. Much of the poetry he reads to her (as his own) is really that of Neruda.
Heartbreak comes when Neruda receives mail that he can return to his homeland. They will keep in touch it says here.
Directed by Michael Radford.
In Italian with English subtitles
In the early 1990s, Italy's famous actor Massimo Troisi, read a novel by Skarmeta which became his inspiration for the film IL POSTINO and in which he acted the part of Mario despite his having had a history of a bad heart. Twelve hours after the film's photography completion, he died in his sleep at the age of forty-0ne.
3 bytes 4 Bytes = Superb 3 Bytes = Too good to be missed. 2 Bytes = So so. 1 Byte = Save your money.
Ben Hoffman
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