(Recommended by SI Blog reader Guruprasad)
I pedaled as fast as I could, as if I were escaping from longing, from innocence, from her.
Time has passed and I’ve loved many women.
And as they’ve held me close and asked if I will remember them I’ve said, “Yes, I will remember you.”
But the only one I’ve never forgotten is the one who never asked – Malèna.
- Amoroso Renato in Malèna
Thus ends the Italian movie Malèna (2000).
And as the credits started rolling, we couldn’t but help but ponder this point – Is it possible to forget the traumatic humiliations and vicious beatings heaped on you – motivated largely out of jealousy for your fine looks and classy demeanor – and pretend as if it all never happened the next time you encounter your oppressors.
No, that goes against the grain of human nature.
And human beings are certainly not so forgiving. But Malèna director Giuseppe Tornatore would have you believe otherwise.
Or the attitude of the town-folk towards Malèna’s husband. This time, the director seems to go off completely in the other direction.
Strange, but we suppose these are what’s termed cinematic liberties.
Unrequited Love
Set in a small Italian town during World War II when Il Duce Benito Mussolini’s voice roared all across Italy via radio sets, the movie is a tale of unrequited lust or unrequited love or unrequited infatuation for Malèna – The woman (Monica Bellucci) with the most beautiful ass in Castelcuto and a face to match.
But this is not the lust, love or infatuation of a young lad or an older man besotted with the town beauty, although anyone with cojones in Castelcuto is obsessed with Malèna.
You see, our protagonist here is a mere kid (Giuseppe Sulfaro). Just 12 1/2 when the movie starts.
We see the entire movie through the young boy’s eyes, and as told years later. Here Malèna director Giuseppe Tornatore employs the same technique he did in his acclaimed Cinema Paradiso (1989), a stellar film that won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Continue reading »
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