Class paper -- Cinema Paradiso: The Theme of Time Italian

Cinema Paradiso: The Theme of Time
Italian 454
Feb 20, 2012

The opening scene of Cinema Paradiso (Giuseppe Tornatore, 1988) stays on the screen for two full minutes, giving the viewer a peaceful scene of the sea as seen from the balcony of someone’s home, with white curtains softly fluttering in the breeze. The focal point of these two minutes is the sun dial, representing time. I think the director stays on this scene to catch our attention before the story unfolds back into the apartment of an older woman. He might be asking: “What is time and what part does it play in our lives, with regard to seeing the world from a point of view, based on one’s age?” As time passes, children grow up, the adults in their lives mature, people follow dreams or experience hardships and past memories mingle with present day life. As the world constantly changes individually, culturally and technologically, time is the common thread through each change.

Opening scenes of the film set the time theme:

A sundial is overlooking the constant presence of the sea.

Time is set in a conversation between the mother and daughter: 30 years have now passed.

In Salvatore’s apartment, the first thing his current girlfriend asks: “What time is it?”

Salvatore responds: “It’s very late.”

The girlfriend states: “Someone has died. The funeral is tomorrow.” Someone’s time has come to an end.

The sound of chimes takes Salvatore back in time and the film presents the passing of time in the small Sicilian town of his childhood.

In the opening flashback, the priest states: “Better late than never.”

The church bells ring out the time in the first scenes of the village, as it was many years ago.

The time of Toto’s (Salvatore) early childhood (around 1942-1949)

Technology: The films being screened at the Cinema Paradiso are black and white. The time is roughly set by the Casablanca film poster in the projection room (1942). The theater sits at the side of the piazza where horse drawn carts and sheep pass through the piazza. The film is highly flammable and Alfredo speaks of how he used to hand crank the projector. Toto’s home is lighted with kerosene lamps. His mother tells him it takes years to get to Russia and years to return. Both Italian and American films are shown. As film posters outside the Cinema Paradiso change, we witness the passage of time.

Culture: Alfredo, who has been a projectionist since he was 10 years old, takes his job seriously. He brings the outside world to the isolated village. The theater provides a place where mostly the males of the town go to escape time and their own lives. The balcony houses the better dressed upper class citizens, one of whom spits his dislike down onto the common people. The naïve Catholic priest cuts innocent kisses from the films, attempting to mark and control the moral boundaries of that time period. An older man and a man half his age both find they share a common trait when written words scroll on the movie screen: illiteracy has transcended two generations. Another man states: “Twenty years I’ve gone to the movies and I’ve never seen a kiss.” The town crazy man has taken ownership of the Piazza. When Toto takes his Grade School Diploma exam, older men of the village also take the exam, hoping to make-up lost time when they were not educated.

The time of Toto’s (Salvatore) adolescence (1949-1956)

Time is set by screening of the film “in Nome della Legge” (1949) and “I Pompieri di Viggiu” (1948)

Technology: The films signal it is post war, which is reinforced by a news reel, which states: “After six years, the return of Spring Fashions.” We see war damage to the buildings in the village and we know war has come and gone. After the Paradiso is destroyed by fire and rebuilt, by the winner of the lottery, the lion’s head remains to let the film shine through. The theater is now modern, glitzy and renamed Nuovo Cinema Paradiso. Money has allowed the new projection equipment to be state of the art. Film is now non-flammable. Some movies are shown in color.

Culture: The Paradiso reflects the changing times in several layers. The innocent outlook on sex which accompanied the small town’s censorship is eroding as the priest still tries to protect his flock from the outside world. The priest is losing his battle to hold back the decadence of the modern world. We see more visible sexual behavior taking place in the darkness of the theater. A lower class man, who had been flirting with a woman in the balcony, has crossed society’s boundary and now sits with her in the balcony. The town crazy man still takes ownership of the Piazza, which is changing but not dramatically.

The priest now plays a lesser role in the village life. He blesses the new theater, but he has lost his power over censoring the films. The films show nudity and provocative behavior. Organized prostitution is taking place inside the theater. While watching a violent film, a Mafioso is shot and killed. Communism has arrived in full force and we see the hammer and sickle symbol on an inside wall of the theater. The outside world now has a foothold inside the theater.

The social layer is still shown by the upper balcony, which separates the classes. The man, who had always shown his disdain, still spits on the lower audience, but this time the lower class fights back and throws a tomato in his face. The couple, who had challenged the class division, have left the balcony and are now back on the main level. The social class system is evolving.

Elena, Salvatore's girlfriend, is wearing a watch on our final glimpse of her before Salvatore leaves for his military service. His face, with the town clock tower is superimposed over the present day Salvatore.

When Salvatore returns from military service we see the new projectionist who does his job without joy or passion. Alfredo tells Salvatore, “Sooner or later the time comes...” They have a serious talk on the seawalls, surrounded by discarded anchors, Alfredo tells Salvatore he needs to escape and not repeat Alfredo’s own life “…living here day after day.”

When Salvatore takes the train and leaves town, the priest arrives late saying: “I was too late. What a shame.” The priest himself was also too late to change and lost the power he had to help the town navigate changing times.

The town crazy man still takes ownership of the Piazza, amongst encroaching cars and buses

The time of Salvatore’s adulthood (1986) (30 years after leaving the town)

The Paradiso represents the old way of life and Salvatore’s memories travel through the stages of the past and its innocence, how it provided escapism from a hard life, enforced class separation and welcomed the advancement of technology. He sees the Paradiso tried to survive, by falling to the level of being a showplace for X-rated films. The old lion’s head lies defeated on the floor of the theater. The Paradiso has finally closed due to the arrival of TV and video, its innocence taken by the advance of time and technology. The Paradiso, destroyed a second time, permanently loses its life to become a parking lot. The tears of the older people, show us our memories have not been destroyed. Due to their age, the young bike riders do not share these past memories. They cannot see the memories time has left with us. We each see the world from a point of view, based on one’s age during the passage of time.

The town crazy man, undeterred by technological changes and time, still takes ownership of the Piazza, which is now packed with parked cars, motor bikes and billboards.

Alfredo saw real life, looking out through his lion's head perch in the theater. After the loss of his eyesight, he becomes more focused on ensuring Toto's future would take place outside the village. He sent Toto out into the world, thinking to free him from the bonds that would bind Toto to the village. But as we all know, it's impossible to totally escape our past and the things which bind us. We should learn from our past, embrace it and integrate it with our future.

The film with its transitions from goatherds to one hour flights from Rome, from donkeys to Mercedes automobiles and numerous references to time, clocks, bell towers and watches, shows the passing of time. At the FINE, first watching the demise of the Paradiso and then watching Alfredo’s film gift of lost kisses, the theme of time merges with a theme of love. Salvatore smiles and finally begins to understand. Time passes, bringing with it hardship, joy, friendship and love along with technological and cultural changes. Time cannot take away our love for each other. It only reinforces it, if we don’t hide from our memories.

Afternote:  A cameo role is played by the director, Giuseppe Tornatore, as the disinterested projectionist.