Cinema Paradiso

“Cinema Paradiso” is a movie about growing up, love, leaving and returning home, loss and success. Its first part illustrates a flashback of Salvatore’s life in Sicily, how he fell in love with movies with Alfredo’s guidance, and how he and his beloved Elena started a romance that ended bitterly. The latter part shows his return from Rome to his hometown for Alfredo’s funeral and some revelations of past events that caused him to live a nostalgic life for thirty years though he had been successful in his career.

Upon watching the entire movie, I was left with an impression that “one cannot have everything in life”. There will always be choices to make and something must always be let go, even if it is difficult and painful. In the movie’s context, Salvatore both fell in love with Elena and movies but he eventually pursued the latter because of a huge wall that forbade their relationship. For more than thirty years, he searched for Elena but they never found her, eventually leaving him to follow his other passion. He had made a mark in the movie industry as a director and cinematographer but personally, he was in deep pain.