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Title: Il Postino
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Poetry is one of the most controversial forms of literature on the planet. It’s been categorized as women’s reading, words of wisdom, and tons of rhyming but most of the time it’s been categorized as something you either love or hate. I disagree with that statement though; I believe poetry is something you either get or you don’t. For real poetry is more then simply words of love written down in a rhythm, real poetry is a wise observation of human emotions and the beauty that is found in the simplest of things. It is this wisdom that makes poetry so difficult to write in the first place. “Il Postino” (“The Postman”) is an Italian film about the emotion of poetry. It’s easily one of the best I’ve seen on the subject, which is no fall feat considering many writers still can’t explain the art of poetry to average people.
Here though, in a visual film, we follow Mario Ruoppolo (Massimo Troisi, who was posthumously nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in this film), an average Italian man who has a simple job of delivering the mail as a postman. The only catch this job is that he has one sole customer: A Spanish poet by the name of Pablo Neruda (Philippe Noiret), who has been exiled with his wife from his home country of Chile after it was discovered he was a communist. At first the two men have a simple relationship where Mario delivers the mail and Pablo delivers the tip, but soon the two men become good friends. Mario is fascinated with Pablo’s poetry, something he never gave much thought to before. In Pablo’s poetry, Mario see’s a world of beauty that he has never seen before, and now yearns to be a poet.
But when Pablo’s first lesson is for Mario to answer the question of “What in Italy is beautiful” Mario is at a loss for words. With the exception of the local pretty girl Beatrice, Mario feels there is nothing good about his hometown. Just a broken down town burnt out on too many promises that were never fulfilled. Yet Mario continues to develop his friendship with Pablo, and through that relationship develops not only a better understanding of the world, but of relationships, words, and the power of those words. Like poetry itself, this film uses words wisely. The characters don’t talk endlessly like a typical Hollywood film would. This film has patience to observe the characters, what they say, and what those words are reacting to.
While the slow pace and countless scenes of beautiful scenery might be too slow for most people, those who step back and really observe the film will find something unique here (if not something special). For once in my life, a movie has really captured what poetry is and how it is written. By observing the world and having the characters subtly take in their surroundings, we start to understand how something like the ocean can conjure up words of purity. How the skin of a woman’s body ignites the flames of passion. How people take these images, the emotions they feel, and puts them into words, to create something that many don’t like because they simply don’t understand it (or get it, either way works now that I really think about it).
“Il Postino” is one of those rare films that tells a great story while giving us a greater understanding of something we may not have been able to otherwise grasp. Like poetry itself though, there are bound to be many people who will hate this film because, like poetry itself, they can not relate to what they are watching. And indeed, this film is not quick-cut or spelled out in easy explanation. It tells it’s story and observes it’s subject with much wisdom, to the point where some people just may not relate to the emotions of this film. Or, as they’ll most likely put it, they simply won’t “get it.”
- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -
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