THE POSTMAN (IL POSTINO)
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1996 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ** 1/2
Just as Gene Siskel recently admitted that he walked out of BLACK SHEEP, let me confess that I went to see THE POSTMAN (IL POSTINO) as soon as it was released last year, but walked out bored stiff after twenty minutes, and so I never wrote a review of it. Since it got two major Oscar nominations, Best Picture and Best Actor (Massimo Troisi), I decided to go back and see it all no matter how unpromising it seemed in the beginning. In short, I am glad I did, but I do not think the film is Oscar caliber. I found THE POSTMAN to be an extremely slow, but heart warming little picture.
On a small and poor Italian island in 1953, a famous Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda (Philippe Noiret), comes to live in exile. Since he is an avowed Communist, he is shunned by his government, but since he is known as "the Poet of Love", he is adored by all the women of the world. That he is plain looking, in his 50s and balding is of no concern to them; they are hot for him because of his poetry.
Massimo Troisi plays a simpleton, a la Forest Gump, called Mario Ruoppolo. Mario applies to be the postman to part of the island. It turns out that in that area everyone is illiterate except for the newly arrived poet and hence the poet is the only one that ever gets mail. Being a mailman to a single person is more work that it might seem since woman all over the planet write to the Poet of Love.
Pablo becomes a mentor to Mario who decides he wants to be a poet too. Mario wants to know all of his secrets since he is in awe of him. Pablo tries to convince Mario that poets are quite human and tells him, "We poets are all fat." In a touching series of scenes, Pablo attempts to teach metaphors to Mario, but Mario is sure that the concept is too difficult. When he accidentally creates his first metaphor, Mario claims it does not count since it was not intentional.
Once reason Mario wants to be a poet is to attract women. Being painfully shy, he needs all the help he can get. When he goes into a bar, he sees a stunning beautiful woman, Beatrice Russo (Maria Grazia Cucinotta), in a low cut dress playing a table game with soccer players on sticks. He plays it with her without speaking, but loses since he spends most of the time staring at her.
An old Dictaphone type of instrument plays a key part in the show. Pablo warns Mario about it saying, "Even the most sublime ideas sound ridiculous if heard too often."
With Pablo's help, soon Mario is spouting poetry left and right. He woes Beatrice with lines including, "your laugh is a sudden silvery spoon," and "your smile spreads like a butterfly." With his new confidence, Mario becomes involved in the Communist party, but he wonders what would happen if they ever actually won. "So what if we break our chains? What do we do then?"
I did not buy the ending of the show. Although the conclusion did not detract from the overall effect of the picture, I found it too manipulative.
I have no idea why this film was nominated for best picture of the year for 1995. There were so many that were better, PERSUASION and TOY STORY just to name two much better ones. And as for Massimo Troisi getting the best actor nomination, I am even more surprised. His acting consisted of mumbling his lines while keeping the exact same sick dog expression on his face throughout the entire film. An effective, but monochromatic performance and certainly not worth award consideration.
The sets by Lorenzo Baraldi and the cinematography by Franco DiGiacomo create a wonderful atmosphere of a dirt poor but highly picturesque out of the way island. The town is lush shades of rose and salmon and most of the houses have highly texture stucco walls with pealing paint. The simple costumes by Gianna Gissi add to the feeling of prevailing but beautiful poverty. The natural grandeur of the sheer rocky cliffs overlooking the blue ocean seem a natural setting for poetry. Finally, my favorite part of the film is the music by Luis Enriquez Bacalov. It is dreamy music full of overtones of a simpler time and place.
THE POSTMAN runs a slow 1:56. The editor (Roberto Perpignani) and the director (Michael Radford) create a film with long scenes that are only sparsely filled with dialog. I suggest bulking up on coffee as I did, or the film's soporific pacing may put you to sleep. This is a sweet little life affirming movie, but it moves at a glacial speed. When there are words, they are in Italian subtitled in English. The film is rated PG for no reason whatsoever. There is no sex, nudity, violence, bad words, or anything to offend anyone of any age. A two year old could see this film. I give the movie a thumbs up and award it ** 1/2.
**** = One of the top few films of this or any year. A must see film. *** = Excellent show. Look for it. ** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable. * = Poor show. Don't waste your money. 0 = One of the worst films of this or any year. Totally unbearable.
REVIEW WRITTEN ON: February 21, 1996
Opinions expressed are mine and not meant to reflect my employer's.
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