Cinema Paradiso: Classical Hollywood or Classic?

In his critical work "Classical Hollywood Cinema," David Bordwell succinctly describes the basic fabula of a Hollywood film.  In this film, he says, there are "psychologically defined individuals who struggle to solve a clear-cut problem or to attain specific goals.  In the course of their struggle, the characters enter into conflict with others or with external circumstances.  The story ends with a decisive victory or defeat, a resolution of the problem and a clear achievement or nonachievement of goals."  

Bordwell is, no doubt, on target with his recognition of the archetypes that codify Hollywood movies.  And Cinema Paradiso, on first thought, appears to be not much different.  The film itself is predictable from the first thunder-storm illuminating flashback brought on by Salvatore's learning that Alfredo has died.  Back we travel to Salvatore's childhood, back we travel to the Cinema Paradiso where Salvatore, called "Toto," longs to work.  His childish and simplistic love for every part of the theatre--the building, the movies, the patrons, the logistics, the employees--is as sweet as it is typical of youth.   His desire to work there, and subsequent obstinacy to do anything but, are also characteristic of a child's affection.  

Similarly, Alfredo having pity on Toto, and eventually placing him under his tutelage, is all part of the typical Hollywood syuzhet.  That their relationship, although appearing at first to be unrequited, is really quite symbiotic is not unexpected: Alfredo teaches Toto everything he wants to know about projecting and film, and Toto saves Alfredo's life.  The story goes on, as stories always do, and with that progression there is the development of what Bordwell calls the "double causal structure, two plot lines:" first, the "heterosexual romance" with Elena; second, the "work....mission or quest."  Each structure has "a goal, obstacles, and a climax."  For Toto, the failure of his first line contributes to the success of his second.  And, in typical rags-to-riches fashion, the little boy who loved the Cinema Paradiso becomes a big name in film.  

Yet the movie is far from a Cinderella story.  Nor is it about the unlikely victory of an underdog.  While the film, in many ways, adheres to the classical structure of Hollywood cinema, its allegorical aspects transcend the archetypes, situating Cinema Paradiso not as a classical Hollywood film but rather as a classic of film.  

Cinema Paradiso is able to eclipse the boundaries of classical Hollywood cinema through three key aspects of the film.  The first is that, for a film that outwardly appears to be standard, the movie has its own charming idiosyncrasies that help to set the film apart from other similar stories.  The town of Sicily in which Toto lives is, despite employing electricity and other features of the Industrial Revolution, remarkably provincial, creating a juxtaposition that is both interesting and original.  Children, men, and women pass by horses and donkeys as they are running to the theatre.  Curtains serve as doors and windows in the home where Toto lives.  Toto's mother doesn't pretend that her husband is alive for children, who know he isn't; she does so for herself.  The expectations that one would have for a typical Hollywood movie are continually unmet in way that is subversively thrilling. 

The second aspect of the film that deviates from classical Hollywood cinema is the life of Salvatore.  In theory, if Toto's life were that of a character in an archetypical Hollywood film, then his "two plot lines" would both "climax" with unlimited success.  That is, Toto should get both the girl and the job.  The Salvatore the audience first meets, however, has achieved success in only one of those two areas.   This deviation, perhaps unfortunate for Salvatore, gives his character and thus the film a credibility that would otherwise not exist.  Salvatore, like all of mankind, has sacrificed a lot and lost even more to become a household name.  And yet, as Wynn Hunter points out, Salvatore has not been entirely without love.  While his life is devoid of the standard love between a man and woman, Salvatore did have love for someone with the same, if not considerably more passion.  Indeed, the love between Alfredo and young Toto did climax in the final scene of Cinema Paradiso as Salvatore is watching the love montage that his mentor has bequeathed to him.  The two plot lines of Salvatore's life do climax, but the results are both unorthodox and unexpected, a subversion of the classical Hollywood cinema plot. 

The third and final feature of Cinema Paradiso that makes the movie an eternal triumph is the theatre itself.  The Cinema Paradiso serves two purposes in the film.  The first is that it is the Mecca of Sicily.  In being the the most sought out place of Toto's town, it small a microcosm of the macrocosm.  Inside the Cinema Paradiso, there are men and women all ages doing all imagineable things while watching the movie.  Yet, whether they are having sex, drinking, or nursing their children, the experience each has inside the theatre is a common one they share with everyone in Sicily.  This speaks to a universality about not only the Cinema Paradiso but also the film--it is of all ages for all ages.  

The second purpose that the Cinema Paradiso serves in the film is that it is Toto's beloved artifact.  It is an intricate part of childhood that touches him and affects his life profoundly.  This, too, is a universal the idea, for everyone had some object as a child that was the very center of their world.  The people, things, and ideas associated with that object--in Toto's case, Alfredo and movies--received our purest and most fervent love, a love that never really leaves us.  And so, when we are in some way reminded of that object, it is an experience that is accompanied not by melancholy but nostalgia.  It is not saccharine, it is not synthetic; it is simply a remembrance of our innocent, unadulterated love.  For an object to be able to elicit this kind of power is a tribute to its affect on our lives.  For a movie to do the same, it is a testament to the entire film and all that it encapsulates.  Films this powerful are never seen in classical Hollywood cinema, but they are seen amongst the Classics.  Cinema Paradiso is a classic.