The
last movie for this subject is “Cinema Paradiso”, also known as “Paradise
Cinema”. As Dr. Goh mentioned in class, it is a film about film, where the
story revolves around the main character, Salvatore, also known as “Toto” as
his nickname in the movie, and his passion towards movie.
From
the beginning of the movie when Salvatore was still young, we can see that how
much passion he had for movie. He always visits his “old” friend, Alfredo and
amazed by the movie projector. His passion was shown through the collection of
the movie clips that was deleted and cut from the tape. He can even memorize the
lines in those scenes. His passion for movie even made Salvatore threatens
Alfredo in exchange of teaching him to use the movie projector for exam
answers. This showed that any kind of influences is most effective when the
impact was during the age of children. This also reminded me that parents need
to set an example for children as they are constantly observing and learning. For
example Salvatore was able to turn off the projector only by watching Alfredo
done it few times.
The
movie also showed that how mass media can change perception of thinking of
people. In the beginning of the movie, the priest was shown “monitoring” every
movie before it went screening just to censor scenes which he thought was inappropriate,
such as kissing scenes. People then were more reserved. However after the
cinema burnt down and renovated, scenes like that were not censored. People began
to be more “sexually active” as we can see scenes like boys doing masturbating
action while watching movie, a couple that looked like having sexually
intercourse during the movie. This showed how people became more open-minded to
sex just because the movie did not censor.
The
movie towards the end showed Alfredo asks Salvatore to leave the town to pursue
his future, and warned him to never return. Salvatore obeyed his wishes and
only returned for Alfredo’s funeral. The quotes that Alfredo told Salvatore was
probably the most motivating to any one of the movie audience, “Whatever you
end up doing, love it. The way you loved the projection booth when you were a
little squirt.” The last few conversations between Alfredo and Salvatore also
became a mirror to all people. Love what you do, do what you love!
