Week 1: Cinema Paradiso (1988)

The film showed what seemed to be a realistic side of Giancaldo, in the way certain social hierarchies were portrayed. For instance, the classicism was clearly shown in which the rich would have better seats on the upper side of the cinema whilst the poor and less wealthy would have their seats on the ground floor, with less good conditions. Furthermore, there were very strong religious tones that could be seen and it influenced how some of the characters interacted with each other. As well as how that influenced Salvatore’s upbringing, thus giving an insight towards how their village and their people interacted with one another. It gave us a look at how people from a different time and age were brought up and what their norms were. Especially in the context of how the children were treated (and today, many of their actions would be considered as child abuse) and how physically punishing them was common and normalized.

There was a strong nostalgic theme to the whole film, as well. The director was able to give the illusion of time in which decades have passed when in fact, it had been only two hours. The progression of how Salvatore had grown, how he goes through the different developmental stages from a young boy to a teenager and later to a more mature, young adult was also clearly seen. Towards the end of the film, when Salvatore returned back to his hometown, the depth of time could be seen. People who he grew up with him looked much older, the buildings aged and were run down, the modernisation of transportation causing there to be an increase of cars and buses - unlike how it used to be when he first left. Although not many developments happened, there was still a difference in how things had changed, e.g. Cinema Paradiso being an abandoned building when he returned - and this was powerful and even quite sentimental to see. It was almost as if the entire story was not even fictional because of how deep of a connection we could see in how the characters interacted and how detailed Salvatore’s life was shown.