The year is about 1953 on the southern Italian island of Cala di Sotto. The great Chilean poet Pablo Neruda (veteran French actor Noiret) has been exiled to the island from his homeland for political reasons, and he takes a lovely villa on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean. The increase in mail causes Mario Ruoppolo, the son of a poor fisherman who hates fishing, to be hired as an extra postman to handle the extra load. As the simple post carrier delivers and picks up Neruda's mail, the famous poet teaches him about the magic of poetry, which Mario uses to woo the village beauty, Beatrice. This simple, sweet 1994 film, an uncharacteristically lovely piece of work by director Michael Radford ("1984," "White Mischief" and episodes of TV's "Homicide"), had a bittersweet romantic story behind its making: star Troisi postponed needed heart surgery to shoot the film, and died of a heart attack the day after the picture was completed.
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The review of this Movie prepared by David Loftus
It's an improbable relationship--the young man who delivers the mail and the internationally known Spanish poet Pablo Neruda, but “The Postman” (Il Postino) is a film
about improbabilities. Set on a small island in the Mediterranean, the movie is a sentimental story of a simple man ( Best Actor nominee Massimo Troisi) who approaches
the great poet to help him win the love of his life, by helping him write his own poems of love. It is this “write” of passage that the two, of course, fall in love, and Nerudo moves on. Massimo and friends become involved in politics, which jades the romanticism and
sentimentality just a bit. A poweful tale, this Italian-made film is one not to miss.
The review of this Movie prepared by Bill Hobbs
