Il Postino (1995) DVD
Quotes from Il Postino:
Pablo Neruda: Man has no business with the simplicity or complexity of things.
Pablo Neruda: When you explain poetry, it becomes banal. Better than any explanation is the experience of feelings that poetry can reveal to a nature open enough to understand it.
Donna Rosa: When it comes to bed, there's no difference between a poet, a priest, or a communist!
Mario Ruoppolo: Poetry doesn't belong to those who write it; it belongs to those who need it.
Pablo Neruda: We poets are all fat.
Pablo Neruda: Even the most sublime ideas sound ridiculous if heard too often.
Mario Ruoppolo: Your laugh is a sudden silvery spoon.
Mario Ruoppolo: Your smile spreads like a butterfly.
Mario Ruoppolo: So what if we break our chains? What do we do then?
Mario Ruoppolo: If you make this much of a fuss about one poem, you're never going to win that Nobel Prize.
Italian star and filmmaker Massimo Troisi was dying of heart failure even before this film, his dream project, began production, and he prevailed upon British director Michael Radford (White Mischief) to see him and the film through to the end. (The 40-year-old Troisi, a beloved comic actor in Italy, died the day production wrapped.) Based on true events, Troisi plays a shy postman who strikes up an unlikely friendship with exiled Chilean poet Pablo Neruda (Philippe Noiret). Through Neruda's example and tutelage, the hero learns to think of his Italian fishing village in lyrical terms, as well as how to talk to women and even find the strength to take his political stands. Sweet as it is, the film finally pushes beyond its charming borders to become an even more complex and poignant story about the pain of growing into one's destiny. --Tom Keogh
I absolutely adore this film, a touching story of the relationship between an timid but passionate postal carrier and the Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda. As Neruda and his poetry instruct the mailman in the ways of love, a courtship blossoms that has all the humor and bittersweet missteps of the real thing. Director Radford uses a light touch to illuminate the unusual relationship between the exiled poet and an ordinary man. Massimo Troisi as Mario (the postman) turns in a fine performance that should not be missed; his characterization of a clueless man desperately in love with both words and a woman cannot be forgotten. Likewise, Philippe Noiret as Neruda provides a memorable portrait of a man who can forget the power of his words.
I can't help comparing "Il Postino" to "Life is Beautiful", also an Italian film that relies on initial humor to set up the pain found in the human heart. "Il Postino" is more subtle, however, and more realistic. Still, those who enjoyed "Life is Beautiful" should also like "Il Postino."
I recommend this film highly. You don't need to know anything about Neruda to enjoy it; all you need to be is human. --Reviewer: Debbie Lee Wesselmann from the Lehigh Valley
