MAGNET contributing writer Jud Cost is sharing some of the wealth of classic films he’s been lucky enough to see over the past 40 years. Trolling the backwaters of cinema, he has worked up a list of more than 500 titles—from the silent era through the ’90s—that you may have missed. A new selection, all currently available on DVD, appears every week.
Il Postino: The Postman (1994. 108 minutes)
Il Postino: The Postman features Massimo Troisi as Mario Ruoppolo, a working-class man from a small island off the Italian coast, in the early ’50s. Dedicated to finishing the film even though heart surgery was pending, Troisi, who’d suffered from rheumatic fever as a child, died from a heart attack at the age of 41, in Rome at the apartment of his sister, the day after shooting was completed.
Unless he finds another occupation, Mario is doomed to a life on his father’s fishing boat. Over a simple meal at home, he tries to explain to his old man how he feels. “I got the sniffles again today,” he says, in a lazy, mumbling manner that owes something to Brando and James Dean. “I only have to set foot on that boat and I become allergic, even if the boat isn’t moving.” As he eats he reads a postcard from two of his friends, Gaetano and Alfredo, now living in the U.S. “They say they’re about to buy an American car. And meanwhile, we’re still here.”
While riding his bike home from the harbor, Mario spots a sign advertising a job opening at the Ufficio Postale, the local post office, that reads, “WANTED: Temporary Employee With Bicycle.” He’s ushered to the desk of the tiny postal facility’s only worker. “Are you illiterate?” the postal official asks the fisherman. “No, I can read and write, but not very fast,” answers Mario. “I need someone to deliver mail to Calla di Sotto,” the postal manager says. “That’s great. That’s where I live,” says Mario. “There’s just one addressee who receives mail. Everyone else there is illiterate,” explains the manager.
The only mail delivered on the island is for its newest inhabitant, Pablo Neruda. Mario gets excited, having just sat through a news story at the local cinema about Neruda, a world famous poet recently exiled to this very island by the Chilean government. “He’s the poet loved by women,” says Mario. The postal manager corrects him: “He’s the poet loved by the people. He’s a communist, and he currently has a mountain of mail. Pedaling uphill with all that will be like carrying an elephant on your back.” The manager introduces himself to his new employee. “My name is Giorgio. I’m your superior, and you should call me, ‘Sir.’ But I won’t hold you to it, because I, too, am a communist.”
After a few trips up the mountain to Neruda’s home to deliver his mail, Mario begins to practice in the mirror, asking for the poet’s signature on a slim volume of his verse. Further interest in the work of the legendary Neruda, he reckons, may come in handy as he tries to win the heart of the local girl of his dreams, the lovely Beatrice Nusso.
