Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

I didn’t quite know what to expect when I rented Il Postino at Blockbuster (“No, not The Postman with Kevin Costner, the one with subtitles, thanks.”). I’d heard the hype about this movie several years ago and put it on my Movies-to-See list, but didn’t get around to it until this weekend. I’d heard that it was romantic; I’d heard that it was funny. I thought it would be a good “date” movie for my husband and I to watch.

The Plot

Il Postino is not just a love story, but also a chronicle of an unlikely friendship. The famous poet and Communist, Pablo Neruda, has fled from his homeland (Chile) to Italy with his wife, Mathilde, in the early 1950s. Neruda takes up residence on a small island that doesn’t even have running water.

Mario Rouppolo is the son of a fisherman and hates fishing. His father tells him to get a job, and Mario winds up as a postman, delivering mail to the only person on the island who ever gets any mail of note: Pablo Neruda. [I would like to note that the movie opens with Mario looking at a postcard from his cousin in the States.]

Pablo, of course, gets important mail like notification that he is being considered for the Nobel Prize in Literature, messages from Chile on a forerunner of 8-track tapes, and tons of fan mail from female admirers. Mario decides that the best way to woo women is to become a poet and embarks on a quest to enlist Pablo’s help in becoming a poet.

At first Pablo takes little notice of the postman and his annoying interruptions, but then he begins to take an interest in Mario’s struggles and nurtures Mario’s poetic leanings. At times Pablo seemed exceedingly kind to Mario, who was rather bothersome, which gave me a profound respect of this character as a writer.

Neruda is a sensual poet, and the viewer is treated to some of his poetry during the course of the movie. Pablo is also very much enamored of his wife. Mario takes note of all this and uses what he learns from Pablo, and even some of Pablo’s poetry to court and eventually marry Beatrice (ah, yes, another Beatrice winning literary hearts). Pablo assists Mario in this romance by publicizing his friendship with the awkward postman, who prior to now hasn’t amounted to much.

The Scenery

A large part of this movie revolves around the beauty of the island, not only as visual stimulation. Pablo tries to communicate to Mario that poetry is all around him, if he just opens himself up to it. Mario eventually comes to understand this and sets about making a tape for Pablo of the sounds of beauty on the island after Pablo has returned to Chile.

The message for the viewer is much the same: poetry resides in our surroundings whether as beautiful as Mario’s island or as alien as the urban jungle.

The Acting

Massimo Troisi played the talkative, yet awkward Mario. Troisi’s portrayal gives us a Mario who stumbles over words, doesn’t always complete his sentences, very rarely is able to communicate a less than mundane thought. Ah, but those less-than-mundane thoughts are flashes of brilliance. Though I did not realize this until after viewing the entire movie, Massimo Troisi died almost immediately after filming Il Postino. Knowing this lends his performance an element of poignancy.

Phillipe Noiret as Pablo Neruda performs wonderfully and the actress portraying Beatrice Russo is as seductive and sensuous to the viewer as to Mario. Beatrice’s querulous aunt gave me fits of laughter just by her reaction to the word, “naked” and was completely believable as an old woman determined to preserve her niece’s virtue, yet completely out of touch with “modern” mores. [The end credits do not list the cast and I hesitate to assign actors’ names to characters since the beginning credits are unclear as to who plays which characters except for Noiret and Troisi.]

Spoiler Though I don’t intend to tell the actual ending of the movie, you might want to stop here while I discuss the nature of the ending. Please skip to the Conclusion section.

Unanswered Questions

For those of you still reading, this isn’t the real spoiler, but I needed the buffer zone.

When Mario is first trying to grasp the concept of metaphors, he asks Pablo, “The whole world is a metaphor for something else?” Pablo replies that he will take a swim and think about Mario’s question and tell him the answer tomorrow. Even though Mario and Pablo meet the next day and the next ad infinitum, the viewer never hears Pablo’s answer to this question. I suppose the director wants us to answer that question for ourselves, but I still want to hear Pablo’s thoughts on it. The director could have given the viewer time to ponder this question during the rest of the movie and then revealed Pablo’s answer in the final scene with Pablo on the beach after his return to Italy. Or maybe I’m just searching for profundity where none exists.

Tragic Endings

I often make cracks about foreign films (especially Chinese movies) that they all end with suicide or insanity (or death of some sort). This is largely due to the fact that I watched Farewell My Concubine, Raise the Red Lantern, Camille Claudel, Jean de Florette, and Au Revoir Les Enfants all within a short span of time. Unlike the American desire for a happy all-loose-ends-tied-in-a-neat-little-package ending, foreign filmmakers, in my opinion, prefer the tragic ending, and do a better job of giving the tragic end more nuance and meaning. Il Postino is no different in this respect. Not only is there a death, but the regret of the one left behind for so easily letting go of their friendship. The death is also related to the inspiration and synergy of the friendship that one person so diligently held onto.

Conclusion

I felt that this movie was hyped far too much and inflated my expectations. However, I enjoyed this film and have added it to my little collection of “movies I would watch again.” Il Postino will most appeal to foreign film buffs, but still harbors plenty of entertainment and thoughtfulness for those amongst us in the “I hate subtitles” crowd.


Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good Date Movie
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12