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Michael Radford's "Il Postino" is a movie for anyone who has ever fallen in love... with a person, a place, a simpler way of life. Unashamedly romantic and sentimental, yet never cloyingly so, it also has a bittersweet ending that hurts like heck. And as if the film weren't poignant enough, one recalls sadly as the credits roll that its star Massimo Troisi died a day after filming was completed. I cried buckets when I first saw it, and it remains one of my favourite films.Based loosely on the brief period of Pablo Neruda's exile in Italy for political reasons (Neruda was a Communist), "Il Postino" tells the story of Mario (Troisi), a simple village postman, and his encounter with the great Chilean poet. When Mario falls in love with local girl Beatrice (Maria Grazia Cucinotta), he seeks guidance from Neruda and inspiration from his poetry. As true love blooms, so does a touching friendship between postman and poet, one that leaves its mark on Mario and his family long after Neruda returns to Chile.Troisi gives a winningly gentle, soulful performance as Mario, a man who is no fool but has never before been given the tools with which to express the poetry in his heart. He visibly grows in stature as a result of Neruda's patronage. As Neruda, Philippe Noiret conveys a worldly wisdom and the exile's wistful nostalgia for home as much in the expressions that he wears, or in the way that he holds himself, as in the words he uses. And what words they are! It is unfortunate that Noiret is dubbed, but at least physically he embodies the part just about perfectly. The supporting roles are uniformly well played, and the dusty, time-worn Meditteranean island setting itself feels like a character at least as significant as any of the people who inhabit it. The blue sky and glittering sun-kissed sea as a near constant backdrop ensures that this movie gives you a blast of joy simply to look at it.
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