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Some of us surely grew up watching films, may it be on the big screen or in our own television sets. Films give us more than just entertainment: it gives us lessons where we can surely ponder on. We grew up believing that the stories were taken from real-life experiences so we sometimes see films as some sort of reference or guide on how we should do things or decide. But what if the things we believed in for a long time could only bring us to our destruction? What if the things we believed in could hinder us from reaching our dreams?

Cinema Paradiso or Nuovo Cinema Paradiso is a 1988 film that was directed by Italian film director Giuseppe Tornatore. This won as the Best Foreign Language Film a couple of years after it was released in both the Oscar and Golden Globes award-giving bodies. The filmed started with Salvatore’s mother, Maria Di Vita, calling Salvatore overseas, to tell him something that the latter needs to know. To her disappointment, she could not reach her son and was only able to talk to the woman he was living with. Salvatore’s younger sister told their mother to give her hopes up because Salvatore probably does not want to see them ever again. Meanwhile, when Salvatore got home from work, he was told by the woman he was living with that his mom called to inform him that Alfredo is dead. Salvatore, not expecting that kind of news, fell silent and this made the woman curious of Alfredo’s identity. Salvatore then started to reminisce his younger years in their locality.

In their hometown, young Salvatore was an altar boy who was always very sneaky—he would almost too often fall asleep while the mass is going on and this would annoy father Adelfio. After the mass is celebrated, father Adelfio would ask Alfredo, the projectionist, to show the films to him before they show it to the public. Father Adelfio, being the religious person that he is, would ask Alfredo to cut out the scenes wherein the characters of the film are being intimate with each other. For him, this is something he cannot allow because it defies his religious beliefs and would cloud the mind of the people in their locality. Young Salvatore would sneak in into the cinema so he could watch what was being shown and this annoyed Alfredo. He would also go into the room where the projector and watch how Alfredo runs things. Being the old person that he is, Alfredo was starting to get too annoyed with Young Salvatore so he promised the boy to give him the cut out scenes as a gift only if he stops going into the projector room. 

One night, while the film was ongoing, the projector caught fire. Everyone inside the cinema panicked and went outside, however, young Salvatore thought of Alfredo and so he went up to the projector room and dragged the body of unconscious Alfredo who was already lying on the ground of a smoke-filled room. Unfortunately, Alfredo got blind and so the job of being a projectionist was handed to young Salvatore. While young Salvatore was operating the projector, Alfredo would accompany him inside the room and they would talk about a lot of things. He developed a love for cinema so he started to film random things (including an animal that was later on to be slaughtered). 

One day, he was able to film a very beautiful woman whom he immediately fell in love with. The blue-eyed and curly-haired Elena Mendola was with her father who was a banker when he first saw her. Whatever he felt when he first laid his eyes on her was unfamiliar to him: it was something he could not describe nor fathom. Alfredo cleared young Salvatore’s confusion, saying that the boy was in love with Elena, however he told him to steer away because love would only cause him his downfall. Despite Alfredo’s advice, he started doing things that would make Elena notice him. Days passed, he followed her when he saw her walking down the street, about to go home. He approached Elena and confessed his feelings. Elena told him that their feelings are not mutual—yet. 

So young Salvatore waited for her outside their house every night until one day he decided to give up. It was until then that Elena realized she felt something for him and so she told him. They started to spend time together but Elena’s father found out about their romance and he does not approve of it.

 Her father decided to spend summer away, so the two decided to write each other letters until one day Elena told young Salvatore that she would be studying abroad. He was left devastated. He sent her letters but he did not get any reply. He entered the military because it was a requirement by the Italian law and even inside the camp, he tried to connect with her but he was unsuccessful. When he went back home, he then discovered that things have changed and that everything felt unfamiliar already. He had a talk with Alfredo and the old man advised him to move away because life is not like those in the movies. Alfredo also told him to not come back ever again and if ever he does, he would not want to see him. Salvatore followed Alfredo so he went to discover the world outside their hometown. He then becomes a successful filmmaker.

Salvatore decided to go back to Giancaldo and attend the burial of Alfredo. He visited their home first and his mom was delighted to see her son whom she was longing for. On the day of the burial, Alfredo’s wife told him that the latter left something for him. He went to their house and Alfredo’s wife told him that he was always keeping up with news regarding Salvatore’s achievements and that he memorized every line of all the movies Salvatore produced. She handed him something that brought Salvatore a lot of nostalgia, the gift Alfredo promised him when he was younger—the collection of the cut-out scenes of the films from his young days.

Cinema Paradiso is a film I was not expecting to tug my emotions at all: I expected it to be a film that was long enough to bore its viewers, but I was wrong; a whole lot of wrong. This is a kind of film I would recommend a person of any age to watch because they will definitely get life lessons. To say that the film was one of the best films yet would be an understatement and it has its own characteristics that make it stand out from other films that have been produced globally. It gave justice to the awards it received and the feedbacks the viewers had. Every actor portrayed their roles so well that they all made an impact to me. They all had backstories and those were beautifully shown throughout the film as well. The kind of relationship Alfredo and Salvatore have would make any kid who’s seeking a fatherly figure in their respective homes jealous. Theirs was the very natural kind one: at the very start, they would not get along as young Salvatore would piss off Alfredo being a sneaky kid that he is, and as the time passed by, and because of constant company as well, they developed certain dynamic between the two of them that nobody in their hometown could ever compare to. This kind of scenario in a film is something that you do not get to see in other films of the same genre. Also, the cinematography is good: it portrayed and emphasized the beauty of every scene and the emotions brought by the actors and actresses. The actors and actresses were so good that they left me struggling with my emotions as well. The plot was well-thought of: the flow of the film, from the past then back to the present was smooth. Out of 5 stars, Cinema Paradiso has got to be 5. It gave me so many emotions I never expected to feel. It’s just...amazing in all aspects.