Hope

Yesterday I watched Cinema Paradiso and enjoyed seeing it again (well, ‘again’ is a bit overstated, as it was maybe 15 years ago that I saw it). But here’s a quick hint – if you’d like to see it, try to get the original edit: the director’s cut, while it provides a new, poignant perspective on the story, is pappy soap opera. But other than that it’s a gorgeous little film about child-like wonder and teenage longing and love and hope.

Take this one scene, where Salvatore has just returned from military service, and takes Alfredo to the seaside and recalls an old story. Standing among a tangle of intertwined anchors, Salvatore tells Alfredo: ‘Now I understand why the soldier left right at the end. One more night and the princess would have been his. But she might not have kept her promise. That would have been too cruel. It would have killed him. This way, at least, for 99 nights, he lived in hope that she’d be his.’

Image: Screenshot, Cinema Paradiso