We’ve all seen it before. The ruggedly handsome male protagonist beset with hardship, fighting against all odds to win over the girl of his dreams and finally reach a settled plateau of nirvana after steep and rocky hardship throughout. The stereotypical plot we all think of when we hear about the “classical Hollywood film” is a subset of a grander more general structure than can be attributed to a large percentage of movies generated out of tinsel town over the past century.
Cinema Paradiso, the Academy award winning Italian film directed by Giuseppe Tornatore possesses many elements of the classical Hollywood film. The male protagonist, Toto, is a small town Italian boy who is brought up by a single mother and goes on to achieve his dream of being a projectionist and subsequently a filmmaker amid bright lights and glamour in Rome. This basic plotline and many of the filmmaking techniques that Tornatore uses scream “Hollywood classic”. However, there are also instances in the story where Tornatore deviates from this overriding structure of classical Western filmmaking.
The most important similarity between Cinema Paradiso and the classical Hollywood film as described by David Bordwell’s piece titled Classical Hollywood Cinema: Narrational Principles and Procedures relates to the plot. As described earlier, an important facet of a stereotype film is the fact that it is run by Toto, the film’s main protagonist. Bordwell describes this character type as the “chief object of audience identification” in any movie, and this is adhered to in that we as the audience quickly develop and emotional bond with Toto as we sympathize with his family’s domestic situation, namely the fact that his father has not returned from the war. In addition, the fact that the film is set as a flashback provides us with a nostalgic feel and furthers our sympathy and appreciation of Toto’s struggles. By leading us through Toto’s daily activities such as going to school and visiting Alfredo in the theatre, we quickly identify with Toto and appreciate the film through his eyes.
We also see that causality is the films prime unifying principle. The key accelerator of the plotline is when Alfredo is blinded in the theatre fire, paving the way Toto to take over and finally, after much struggle, be able to operate the machinery in the projection room. I found very ironic that this incident foreshadows the conclusion of Toto’s contact with Alfredo. Like the way in which Alfredo pushes Toto away emotionally and physically as he asks him to leave Giancaldo for the sake of his future, earlier in the movie Alfredo also has to sacrifice greatly (by giving up his eyesight) in order to allow Toto to flourish and for his dream for Toto to be set on course.
Bordwell also informs us of certain classical film styles and techniques that are used to “enhance the process of goal formation, struggle and decision”. I found it especially interesting that weather and setting plays an important part dramatizing parts of the movie, especially the instances where it flashes between the present and Salvatore’s memories from childhood. While every shot in Rome in during nighttime and is punctuated by invasive and disturbing streaks of lightning into Salvatore’s home and psyche, the weather in Giancaldo is for the most part filled with blue skies and the sun. This seems to be a directorial technique that persuades Salvatore and the audience to go against the wishes of Alfredo that have till now been closely kept to heart and make the trip back to Giancaldo.
In addition to this, we also see that Cinema Paradiso adheres to the double causal structure that is common in classic Hollywood films. The films two main storylines include Toto’s adoption of Alfredo as a father figure and his desire to fulfill his dream of becoming a projectionist and the simultaneous quest to get Elena to fall in love with him. As specified by Bordwell, each of these plot lines has “goals and obstacles”. However, unlike the classical Hollywood flick, the film version we see (not the Director’s cut) does not allow for a definite “climax” in both cases.
Despite all the similarities to the classical Hollywood film, there are some key choices that Tornatore makes that deviate from the general structure. Firstly, the story (especially the cut version) ends without “decisive victory or defeat”. Even though Alfredo’s funeral and the symbolic and concurrent ‘funeral’ held for Cinema Paradiso (many members of Giancaldo’s community somberly watch as the building is brought down) suggests a closure to the open-ended relationship that Toto had with Giancaldo and its residents, both the storylines are not decisive as we don’t see the solution to Toto’s unstable love life and never hear from Elena again. Unlike the stereotypical Hollywood classic where the hero and heroine are united for the final sequence, this cut version is atypical in that it leaves one of the storylines open-ended. Even after reading about the end of the director’s cut version, it seems that Tornatore has evaded the “pressure” of a classical Hollywood ended by revealing that Elena is married with a child. This might be a suggestion of the ultimate sacrifice that Toto had to make in order to achieve his dream and that he now has live without his true love. Tornatore perhaps makes this choice to take a swipe at film’s evasion to reality in general, where he tantalizes us with the Toto’s struggles and the prospect of a classical ending, but brings us back down to earth to remind us that reality is not like always the “classical Hollywood film”.
