Cinema Paradiso - The Journey of Seeking Love

Movie poster from AllPosters

Love - it's a wonderfully neutral phenomena. It's neither good nor bad; it's up to how we interpret it. This theme was explored deeply in this movie, a 1989 Academy Award Winning Italian film, Cinema Paradiso.

What the director Giuseppe Tornatore did for the movie plot struck a chord within me as he utilized the very nature of love being a source of strength only after pain is felt. There were many scenes in the movie that portrayed this.  **SPOILER ALERT!** For instance, when Salvatore, more fondly known as Toto, was a kid, he grew up without the love of his biological father as he was killed in action as a soldier during World War II, where Alfredo, the only film projectionist in his neighbourhood cinema, became a fatherly figure to Toto, albeit the frictions they had in their relationship in the beginning of the movie. He gave him the love that he needed as a child growing up, from teaching him lessons in life based on quotes he took from movies, and to teaching him every nook and cranny behind the art of projecting films, where Toto would grow to love to become a successful film producer as an adult. It was interesting to note also that Social Learning Theory was in play here, as the theory dictates that a child learns by observing his/her surroundings, which in this case, Toto learning to love film production and projecting based on his observations of Alfredo manning the film projector every time the town's pastor screens through movies before they are released to the public to censor "inappropriate" scenes. There was one scene where Toto learned to turn off the projector when Alfredo went out of the room for a brief moment, and realised that Toto learned to work the projector after observing Alfredo do it before. Toto's dedication and love towards film projecting was even more enhanced after enduring the pain of having Alfredo lose his sight from a fire in the projector room, so Toto had to take over his Alfredo due to his disability.

Another scene where love grows through pain is Toto's, his family's, and Alfredo's pain as Toto left his hometown for Rome to make a living for himself, after noticing the town was not like what it used to be before he went for his military service. Alfredo said this to Toto as he was about to board his train to Rome: 

"Get out of here! Go back to Rome. You're young and the world is yours. I'm old. I don't want to hear you talk anymore. I want to hear others talking about you. Don't come back. Don't think about us. Don't look back. Don't write. Don't give in to nostalgia. Forget us all. If you do and you come back, don't come see me. I won't let you in my house. Understand?" 

Through his statement, it can be noted that Alfredo will definitely miss Toto, but he felt he had to do this in order to ensure the young lad a chance to be a somebody in the modern world. It's interesting to see that even though Alfredo said these harsh words, we as the audience are able to note a hint of sadness and reluctance of Alfredo letting go of Toto into the real world. The way he said his words was a form of priming, where we response according to the stimuli that we receive, in this case is the way Alfredo phrased his sentence that primed a hint of sadness within him. Everyone close to Alfredo felt the pain of separation, but it was through this separation that allowed Toto to pave a way to his fame and success, but at a cost of his family's and Alfredo's love. 

As the icing on the cake, the feeling of pain and love (a bittersweet feeling of sorts) can be felt by the audience as the soundtrack of the movie is played over and over again through scenes portraying this theme. 

Here's a link to the soundtrack (Thanks, Ruychaven!) --> Cinema Paradiso Soundtrack -Love Theme  

The music intensifies the experience of that hurt and love at the same time by the audience as it is a form of classical conditioning where upon repeated exposure to the soundtrack (Neutral Stimulus) every time a scene portraying the theme of love through pain is showed (Unconditioned Stimulus), evoking a bittersweet feeling (Unconditioned Response). As the movie comes to a close, the audience will be conditioned to experience a bittersweet feeling within them (Conditioned Response) whenever they hear the song (Conditioned Response).

All in all, the movie was beautifully crafted in a way that although love brings pain and suffering at times, it will teach us to never give up on what you love to do, and in time bring resilience and more strength to push through life's obstacles.