Il Postino

Il Postino
	; Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Michael Radford
Produced by	Mario Cecchi Gori; Vittorio Cecchi Gori; Gaetano Daniele
Starring	Philippe Noiret; Massimo Troisi; Maria Grazia Cucinotta
Music by	Luis Enríquez Bacalov
Cinematography	Franco Di Giacomo
Distributed by	Hollywood Pictures
Release date(s)	September 1, 1994 (VFF); September 22, 1994 (Italy);
Running time	108 minutes
Country	‹See Tfd› Italy
Language	Italian
Box office	$21,848,932

Il Postino is a 1994 Italian film directed by Michael Radford. The film was originally released in the U.S. as The Postman, a straight translation of the Italian title.¹² However, since the release of Kevin Costner's post-apocalyptic film of the same name, the film has been released on DVD as Il Postino: The Postman, and English language film critics often refer to the film by its Italian title alone.

The film tells a fictional story in which the real life Chilean poet Pablo Neruda forms a relationship with a simple postman who learns to love poetry. It stars Philippe Noiret, Massimo Troisi, and Maria Grazia Cucinotta. The screenplay was adapted by Anna Pavignano, Michael Radford, Furio Scarpelli, Giacomo Scarpelli, and Massimo Troisi from the novel Ardiente paciencia by Antonio Skármeta. Skármeta himself had previously adapted his novel for the screen in 1985 as Ardiente paciencia (English translation: "Burning Patience").

Writer/star Massimo Troisi postponed heart surgery so that he could complete the film. The day after filming was completed, he suffered a fatal heart attack.

Plot

Pablo Neruda, the famous Chilean poet and communist, is exiled to a small island in Italy for political reasons. His wife accompanies him. On the island, local Mario Ruoppolo is dissatisfied with being a fisherman like his father. Mario looks for other work and is hired as a temporary postman with Neruda as his only customer. To get the job, he must declare himself a communist to keep the postmaster happy. He uses his bicycle to hand deliver Neruda's mail. Though poorly educated, the postman eventually befriends Neruda and becomes further influenced by Neruda's political views and poetry.

Meanwhile, Mario falls in love with a beautiful young lady, Beatrice Russo, who works in her aunt's village cafe. He is shy with her, but he enlists Neruda's help. Mario constantly asks Neruda if particular metaphors he uses are suitable for his poems. Mario is able to better communicate with Beatrice and express his love through poetry. Despite the aunt's strong disapproval of Mario, because of his sensual poetry (which turns out to be largely stolen from Neruda), Beatrice responds favorably.

The two are married. The priest refuses to allow Mario to have Neruda as his best man, due to politics; however, this is soon resolved. This was because Di Cosimo was the politician in office in the area with the Christian Democrats. At the wedding, Neruda receives the welcome news that there is no longer a Chilean warrant for his arrest, so he returns to Chile.

Mario writes a letter but never gets any reply. Several months later he receives a letter from Neruda. However to his dismay it is actually from his secretary, asking Mario to send Neruda's old belongings back to Chile. While there Mario comes upon an old phonograph and listens to the song he first heard when he met Neruda. Moved by this he makes recordings of all the beautiful sounds on the island onto a cassette including the heartbeat of his soon-to-be-born child.

Several years later, Neruda finds Beatrice and her son, Pablito (named in honor of Neruda) in the same old inn. From her, he discovers that Mario had been killed before their son was born. Mario had been scheduled to recite a poem he had composed at a large communist gathering in Naples; the demonstration was violently broken up by the police. She gives Neruda recordings of village sounds that Mario had made for him.

Cast

Philippe Noiret – Pablo Neruda
Massimo Troisi – Mario Ruoppolo
Maria Grazia Cucinotta – Beatrice Russo
Renato Scarpa – Telegrapher
Linda Moretti – Donna Rosa

Setting

Whereas the novel and the 1985 film were set in Chile, with Neruda living in his home at Isla Negra around 1970, Il Postino moves the setting to Italy in about 1950. The film is set and was partially filmed on the island of Salina, of the volcanic Aeolian Island chain off the north coast of Sicily. After the film was released, the island's Pollara Beach suffered erosion from motorboats and vandalism from tourists.³

Soundtrack

Further information: Il Postino (soundtrack)

In 1994 to promote the film, Miramax published The Postman (Il Postino): Music From The Miramax Motion Picture, which besides the film's score, composed by Luis Enríquez Bacalov, includes Neruda's poems recited by many celebrities. There are a total of 31 tracks.

In 2002 CAM Original Soundtracks released a 17 track version of the score (CAM 509536-2) which was mastered in Dolby Surround.

The album won the Academy Award for Best Original Dramatic Score and the BAFTA Award for Best Film Music.

For the 2010 opera based on the film see Daniel Catan.

Reception

The film was very well received. Rotten Tomatoes reports that 92% of the critics liked the film, based on 25 reviews.⁴ It received a score of 81 on Metacritic, indicating "Universal Acclaim", based on 13 critic reviews.⁵