Imagination and Noble Obsessions in Guiseppe Tornatores Fil essays

Imagination and Noble Obsessions in Guiseppe Tornatores Fil essays Imagination is the ally of Guiseppe Tornatores characters as they come of age in Cinema Paradiso and Malena. Both stories are told as flashbacks, situated in Sicily. Cinema Paradiso is the local theatre where Salvatore, whose father is presumed the have been killed in battle, escapes into. We find in the projection booth Alfredo, who learns to love Toto as his son. And indeed, the boy considers the old man his father as he makes the booth his home away from his indifferent home and the movies his mother. They teach him about people and life beyond the small town of Giancolo whose ways we become familiar with inside the theatre as they make movies their momentary redemption. The story takes place in the wake of World War II and the times hardship and poverty are shown. We come to understand in Toto that the power of the screen can compensate for a deprived life and aide the imagination not only to create dreams but to believe in them as well. But the theatre, as the whole town, lives under the reverberating bell of the Church (the theatre is actually the Church-converted, after all!). The priest censors the films with a bell that is rung at every kiss, whereupon Alfredo stops and snips the offending footage and tosses it into a pile of lifeless celluloid. Humor is evident throughout the film especially in the village-folk but is never allowed to take over entirely. The musical score maintains a nostalgic, bitter-sweet tone that outlines the films mood. But the film begins in earnest as Alfredo is blinded in a fire that destroys the cinema and it is left to Toto to take over the village projectionist when the newly built cinema is opened. His love of cinema matures as he grows up. He shoots a documentary and, inevitably, falls in love. But the dreams the movies have helped create and Alfredo urge him to leave and keep moving forward, never to return. He keeps his promise for 3...