Il Postino (1994)
Directed by Michael Radford

Film Review

Striking in the purity of its lyricism and suffused with a tender humanity, Il Postino is one of cinema's finest tributes to the art of poetry.  In truth, the film is itself a poem, calm and understated, but with a powerful force to engage and charm its audience.  The film won critical acclaim and proved to be an instant international success.  It picked up an Academy Award for its musical score and was nominated in four other categories (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay).

Beautifully filmed on the island of Capri, with touching performances, Il Postino is a fitting memorial to its lead actor and co-screenwriter, Massimo Troisi, who was suffering from a heart defect whilst making the film and who died, aged 41, just after shooting the film was finished. Troisi's sudden death, coming so soon after making the film, gives the final scenes of the film a particularly accute sense of poignancy.

Film Synopsis

In the 1950s, Mario lives with his father on a small Italian island in the Mediterranean.  Not wishing to follow his father's own profession as a fisherman, Mario decides instead to become the island's postman.  His main preoccupation is to deliver masses of fan mail to the island's most celebrated resident, Pablo Neruda, a renowned Chilean poet living in exile.  Over time, a close friendship develops between the illiterate postman and the gifted wordsmith, and through this Mario acquires a profound love of poetry, which he hopes will improve his love life.

Adapting Neruda's poems for his own purpose, Mario finally finds he has the confidence to approach the bar girl, Beatrice, and reveal his innermost feelings for her.  Moved by her suitor's entreaties, Beatrice soon realises that she too is in love and the couple marry not long afterwards.  It isn't just Neruda's poetry that affects the postman; he also becomes greatly influenced by his politics.  This will have serious implications for Mario and his wife, as Pablo discovers to his deepest regret when he returns to the island many years later...