Passion.
It’s a word that can stir us to our core. Passion is something that can not only drive our lives, but give it such meaning and purpose that we feel we simply would not…could not…be complete without it.
Often, movies inspire us to bigger and better things – not because of their box office totals or the stars that grace the cast, but because when we see people on the big screen living a life in passion, we often want to emulate that. We admire it. We cherish it in others, and in ourselves.
So, last night, when someone I know asked if I wanted to join them in a screening of Giuseppe Tornatore’s Cinema Paradiso (1990-USA release), well, I said…Sure!
After all, I hear it’s the signature movie of the Palm Springs International Film Festival, which I try to faithfully attend. And it is a movie for movie lovers. So, what could go wrong? I already knew the basic premise: A mid-20th century Sicilian boy is captivated at an early age with the projection booth in his local cinema, and his life unfolds around his relationship to the cinema’s projector, and its people.
Genius.
And, for the most part, it is.
When we opened the package, I noticed there were two versions…the original release and the director’s cut. Since I had not seen it before, I lobbied for the DC. My viewing mates had already seen the original, so it was unanimous. I plucked the new cut from the box and away we went.
Right from the off, I was completely captivated with Cinema Paradiso’s awesome simplicity. When we first meet our passionate protagonist, Salvatore (the impeccable Salvatore Cascio), he is simply a troublemaking imp under the shoe of his mother (Antonella Attili), his priest (Leopolt Trieste), and his projectionist father-figure Alfredo (Philippe Noiret). Salvatore is young alright, but he’s old enough to know what really matters in the movies he loves!
As the days pass in the life of Salvatore, so much of life is projected not only onto the screen of the small theater, but also through its aisles, as the children, men, and women of the small town come of age under the watchful gaze of film. What is so striking is that in 1940s Italy, the rest of the world might as well not exist for little Salvatore, for he learns to live, love, and laugh, even as he runs the projector in his local Cinema.
But times change and the winds of history blow inevitability into life, and as Salvatore pursues the dreams in his own real-life drama, I was quite swept away in his story, simple as it is. After all, one sees that his investment in movies is so great that we just have to see the payoff. However, I found myself having difficulty connecting with certain scenes. As I had never seen the theater release, I didn’t know which scenes were inserted, however, I shared my discomfort with my friends who indicated to me that yes, one of the story-line progressions had indeed been added in the DC.
I already knew the ending. I couldn’t wait for it.
But the intervening, seemingly-endless minutes of added footage seemed to sap the movie of much of its emotion. My fellow viewers agreed. Unfortunately, unlike them, I will never be able to see the movie ‘for the first time’ without knowing about the added scenes, and I feel that somehow, when I do watch the full version, it will be diminished.
All I can say is that spaced around what feels like an egotistical choice on the part of the director, there is a movie full of place, people, love, and, yes, passion.
If you haven’t seen Cinema Paradiso, you’ll have to make the choice whether to view the DC version or not. That is up to you.
But what you will not get to choose is your emotion. If you are not swept away by Salvatore’s journey in this truly touching film, then perhaps you need more passion in your own life.
If you do?
Well, then go see a movie today.
-josh
I saw the original version of Cinema Paradiso when it was first released; loved it and was not surprised when it took the honors at the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film for 1989. My experience with the director’s cut is that while it fleshed out many of the relationships and circumstances in the film, giving me a better understanding about why the protagonist had made certain choices in living his life, it went a step too far in resolving some of the tension that is key in this film. While I still prefer the original over the director’s cut – my ideal version, (in my own mind’s eye), now lies somewhere in between the two.
Editing is everything. Often less is more, but sometimes more is more as well – just not at the expense of trying to wrap everything into a neat package and losing some of the important lessons to be learned in the process. Life is often “messy” and requires us to search our soul, come to acceptance, forgiveness, and the understanding that often our choice to follow one passion may be at the expense of another.
Another truly simple film about passion is Il Postino. It is set in Italy during the 1950’s. It tells the story of a simple Italian postman who befriends the exiled poet Pablo Neruda and in the process learns to love poetry and use it to earn the love of the beautiful woman he has long admired. This movie has an emotional back-story that underscores the importance of pursuing one’s passion. See the film first and then research the leading man, Massimo Troisi. You may just come away from the experience with a whole new awareness of living purposefully.
@HOLLIE: Thank you for the great comment. The fun of a director’s “cut” is often to see what was put back in, but oh…oh…how I wish I could go back in time and see the “original” version first. But alas, I will have to see it in its own time…