'The Postman', watch it again to be amazed

Amalia

Bee

When you explain it, poetry becomes banal. Pablo Neruda (Philippe Noiret) says this to Mario Ruoppolo (Massimo Troisi, who co-directs his last film with Michael Redford). It's the summer of 1952 on an island in southern Italy (filming took place in Rome, Procida, and Salina). Why revisit it? He responded with Neruda, because "better than any explanation is the direct experience of the emotions that can reveal poetry to a soul ready to understand it." But there's a more poignant reason: for months, the production was in jeopardy. Troisi, already seriously ill, was undergoing a long convalescence. Halfway through filming, he was told he needed a heart transplant. He decided to postpone the operation in order to finish the film. He died a few hours after filming wrapped, at just 41 years old. The film is loosely based on a novel Troisi was very fond of: "Neruda's Postman," by Chilean writer Antonio Skármeta. And finally, one last gem: the soundtrack by Luis Bacalov, which won him an Oscar.