Cinema Paradiso

 I've recently grown more interested in the area of screenplay writing and all the creative processes that go behind movie-making. I picked up a book, 'Save the Cat', at my aunt's house from my cousin's bookshelf. 'Save the Cat' by Blake Snyder is a crash course on screenwriting. It's short, extremely readable and doesn't waste your time. I pulled an all-nighter that night, reading it from 3 to 6 AM. In retrospect, I should probably re-read it. I'm not sure how much of it I've absorbed since I remember another decision I made at 6 AM was to wake my father up and alert him that the sun was rising and it was too beautiful to miss and waste sleeping. Yowza. 

But, don't worry. My father hath forgiven me. In fact, he suggested we watch some 'classic' movies he had kept saved for a while. So we sat down to watch an Italian movie - Cinema Paradiso. 

Cinema Paradiso is a heartwarming kind of story. It opens with our hero - Salvatore , getting a call from his mother, informing him of the death of his mentor - Alfredo. Salvatore begins to reminisce of his time in the village and his relationship with Alfredo. Salvatore was a war orphan, living with his mother and little sister in a small Italian village. He is shown to be a mischievous boy, fascinated with the movies. Alfredo was a projectionist ( runs the movie projector) at the local theatre. Salvatore was fascinated with the projection room ever since he was a child. Their bond grows and Salvatore learns how to run the projector. Eventually, Alfredo is maimed in a fire accident and our preteen hero takes up the mantle of projectionist at the Cinema Paradiso. 

He grows into a young man, falls hopelessly in love, enter heroine Elena. But Alfredo senses he is capable of more. Elena and Salvatore separate in a misunderstanding and Alfredo sends him to the city.   Alfredo gives a lot of wonderful advice throughout the movie, but perhaps the best piece of advice was when he said to his young friend - 'Go to the city. Don't look back. Whatever you end up doing, love it.' 

Salvatore goes, and dreams, and succeeds. But never recovered from the pain of losing Elena. He returns to the village and finds his beloved Paradiso in a dilapidated state. He finds out Elena is now married to his childhood friend. They realise that they were separated by Alfredo, who wanted him to find success in what he did. In an act of gross manipulation, Alfredo manages to separate Elena and Salvatore from reuniting, and sent him off to the city.Still, they have a joyous reunion but eventually part ways. 

The movie has a very homely, nostalgic feeling to it. The setting of Italy is beautiful and things like the town hall, the school and other stone constructions add to its rustic mood. What I took away from the movie was the significance of the Paradiso in the lives of all the villagers. It was an almost daily affair for them to unwind in front of a movie. They were invested in the characters, laughed at the jokes, cursed the villains, rooted for the heroes. It brought them together and gave them something to look forward to . 

I've always wanted a career that adds value to society. Something that makes people's lives better. And this movie showed me that movies are a way of doing that too. Sure, it can't compete with a doctor or a fireman, or people who save lives. But we often neglect how important movies and TV are to each of us. They give us a break from our everyday life. For some of us, those two hours are an escape into  a magical world where people get their happy endings. 

On another level, movies shape the way we think. Any human can only see a finite amount of this word. So how do we imagine the rest of it? Through movies. We imagine life to be as it is presented to us. 

So yes, screenplay writing is not too shabby a profession.