Armand
his performance is essence of this adorable film. his character is so careful created that its fragility, humor, innocence, light of details are magnificent. he don't play a role but he is "il postino" . and this fact transforms entire scene. the story of Neruda exile is only arena for emotions of a small man on an Italian isle. the beautiful Beatrice is brick for his delicate happiness. Neruda himself is not exactly a mentor but a gardener. and the music, the extraordinary music, it is the soul of entire poetry. because a poetry is this movie who has as roots poems. very delicate, nice, nostalgic, melancholic, subtle, intelligent, precise, it is wonderful homage to a way to discover life as fundamental miracle. to feel the nuances of love, friendship, to be humble, modest and daring in same time, to feel gratitude as form of respiration. beautiful and impressive. touching. and unique. story of a postman. legacy of Massimo Troisi.
felixoteiza
This is actually an Italian fairy tale, one where Neruda is little more than a simple enabler for two lovebirds. The story of a humble, uneducated, man who conquers the heart of a girl with words borrowed, or stolen, from the great poet. Nothing wrong with that, except that this Master of Words proves at the end to be very flawed, unworthy of the worshiping he's the object of-—but more of that later. Decent acting overall, breathtaking scenery—those postcard coastal natural settings are also common in Neruda's Chile—but the writing lets a lot to be desired, with too many schmaltzy scenes & dialogs and assorted cliché situations. Not surprise then that he plot loses its breath half way, when the lovebirds get married and Pablo returns to Chile. What is left then is the same thing we had at the beginning: the daily routines of a small fishing town in southern Italy. Will that be enough to carry the rest of the movie? Don't think so. This isn't Amacord or IVitelloni, as the whole plot was resting on the relationship Neruda--Mario and so when that comes to an end the movie is left gasping for air, begging for some emotional filling as a replacement. With the poet gone and the romance morphed into routine, all what's left for Mario are unfulfilled family obligations and a constant moping for the absent Master.There is an obvious plot discontinuity when both men separate, perhaps because this script was made sewing up two original stories, set in different places at different times. Sure enough, Neruda was in exile in Italy after having fled Chile in 1949, when the Chilean government started jailing Communists, despite them being part of the governing coalition (!) after being pressured by the Yankees, who had started their own witch hunt. (it's hard to believe, but the reason why communists were hunted down was because Chile's president was afraid of it being considered unfriendly by the U.S and risk losing trade, diplomatic and political benefits). Neruda escaped to Argentina & then to Italy, where he was well received thanks to the work made on Italian public opinion by fellow communist Alberto Moravia. On the other hand, the story of him befriending a postman and writing him poems dedicated to his love interest comes from Antonio Skarmeta's Ardiente Paciencia, set in Chile in the 60s, in the coastal town of Isla Negra, where Neruda had a cottage (which is now a museum). So, this is really a Chilean story transposed to Italy, which may explain the awkward plot situation produced when Neruda leaves.Now, Noiret may be a great actor but he makes a disfavor to Neruda with his work here, at least in 2 instances. First, when he's back in Chile he forgets about Mario and doesn't even answer his mail. The real Neruda would have never done that, because for him friendship and loyalty were two things intrinsically tied to class struggle and political commitment. For him all communists--and all members of the working class-were his brothers whatever may have been their countries of origin or their educational level, and all right wingers and rich people in general his enemies, as for him there was no middle ground at that. In real life he would have never acted like he does with Mario, just because he's a less educated man. At least he would have sent him a postcard. The 2nd thing is you would have never caught him in church, let alone crossing himself, as he was an atheist who had no use for religions or for any organized church and the only people in that realm for whom he ever came to feel any respect at all were the Quakers, just because they helped pay for travel tickets to Chile for thousands of Spaniards fleeing their civil war. It's obvious that both misrepresentations have been committed to keep the plot going, which I can understand, but the record must be set straight anyway.Anyway, IP can be very touching the first time you see it, but it goes losing its emotional punch with time, as there's no much left to get hold of after the thrill of the love story and that of the beautiful words wears off. But worse is the portrayal of Neruda as a snob; an hypocrite who'll be nice to the locals as long as he needs them but who'll forget them as soon as he's gone. I'm all for artistic licenses, but not when they make appear an authentic individual under such an unfavorable and false light.In all, to see maybe a couple of times. Anyway, if you want to see something closer to the real man, watch Skarmeta's Ardiente Paciencia.
superdirector007
what a magnificent movie, legendary work by Michael Redford , everything about this movie is beautiful ,,winning Oscar does not come in easy way ,,be it budget,,cinematography covering island's natural beauty ,,specially sea settings ,humourous dialogs with utmost simplicity and realistic performances by actors ,everything is admirable.sometimes you do not plan to make a great movie with highly perfection attitude but movie becomes and gets applauded ,,same happened with this movie,what i believe what is metaphor Mario asks Pablo says-like sky is weeping what does it mean Mario says means to say sky is raining Mario's response it's complicated and Pablo's response that complication does not have to do anything with person's emotionsvery meaningful and soulful dialogs ,that is the reason movie does not become boring end of the movie is very surprising ,it keeps you involve in the movie movie was shot on the island near by Meditteranean sea and every time tides go and again come to touch coastal areas that resembles one excellent scene goes with the hope to come with another lovely scene filled with emotional and heart touching dialogs to touch your heartmovie is pretty simple but can you predict what's gonna happen in next scene ,probably not ,it has certain surprising elementsthis movie is not a movie this is everlasting experience to live with and cherish it
