Cinema Paradiso Page #3

He takes him and turns him towards the stairs. For him the matter is closed. He

returns to the film-winder. SALVATORE sneaks back and while ALFREDO's attention

is elsewhere, snatches up a handful of movie frames scattered on the counter,

stuffs them into his pocket and...

SALVATORE:

What sort of deal is this? The strips

are mine! So why can't I come see

them?

And he stares at ALFREDO with a sly, saucy look. ALFREDO clutches his hand,

darts forth like an arrow and is about to give him a kick in the ass. He

shrieks:

ALFREDO:

Get out!! And don't show your face

here again!

And before the kick reaches its destination, SALVATORE has already dashed off

down the spiral staircase.

8 GIANCALDO. SALVATORE'S HOUSE. INT. EVENING

That was not the first theft of film strips. SALVATORE's hand reaches

into a flowery metal box jammed full of pieces of film. He takes out a

few frames and holds them up against the kerosene lamp. Gazes at the

figures that remind him of the films seen at Cinema Paradiso, and in a

whisper mangles fragments of dialogue, the shooting of guns, the

musical climaxes...

SALVATORE:

Bang! Bang! Bang! Shoot first, think

later! This is no job for weaklings!

Treacherous dog!

The house has no lights, is gloomy and cold. SALVATORE's

mother, MARIA, is leaning on the table in front of him. She is

young, around thirty, and her pretty face is haggard, marred by

all the sacrifices. She is sewing some clothes, is a seamstress. LIA,

his four-year-old sister, is sleeping on a cot in one corner. The

kerosene lamp projects the trembling shadow of the film strips on

the wall, figures of prairies, gunslingers, thugs. SALVATORE's

voice changes, turns even tougher.

SALVATORE:

Hey there, you lousy bastard, take

your hands off that gold, You black-

hearted pig, stay away from me, or

I'll smash your face in!

'Ntantatah!!!...

(In the heap of movie

frames there are also

several photographs.

SALVATORE picks them up.

Family keepsakes. A man in

an army uniform. Then the

same man with a girl

beside him whose smiling

face can be recognized as

MARIA. SALVATORE takes a

closer look at the man's

face, then whispers to his

mother:
)

Ma, if the war's over, how come

Daddy's never come back?

MARIA looks up at him with a sweet smile.

MARIA:

He'll be back, he'll be back...

You'll see. One of these

days...

But there is not much conviction written on her face. She looks

back down at her sewing. SALVATORE goes on looking at the

photos.

SALVATORE:

I don't remember him any more—Ma,

where's Russia?

MARIA:

It takes years to get there. And

years to come back...Now go to bed,

Toto, it's late.

SALVATORE puts the photos back into the box and tucks the box

under LIA's cot near the charcoal burner.

9 GRADE SCHOOL. COURTYARD. EXT. DAY

A noisy crowd of little children in black smocks, white collars and blue

bows moves about the large courtyard where there are two tall palm

trees. The boys head for one door, the girls towards the opposite one.

The Janitors line them up two by two, ready to enter. Here and there,

parents and relatives accompany the younger ones. Beneath one of the

palms, SALVATORE pulls off the altar-boy tunic, stuffs it into the

khaki-colored cardboard schoolbag, takes out the smock and puts it

on, as one of his schoolmates passes by. It is MASINO, and he's crying

desperately because he doesn't want to go to school. His FATHER drags

him along, yelling:

MASINO'S FATHER

You can fool your mother but not me!

Get yourself a damn diploma and

become a policeman. You good-for-

nothing!

MASINO:

I don't want to go to school'

(The sound of the bell.

The black lines move up

the steps towards the

school.)

1O FOURTH GRADE. INT. DAY

SALVATORE is sitting at the front-row desk next to PEPPINO,

a little freckle-faced boy. His attention, like that of the whole class, is

concentrated on what is taking place at the blackboard. The TEACHER is standing

there, watching a plump little boy, shy and not quite all there, do a two-figure

multiplication it is NICOLA SCORSONE, known as 'COLA'. He is red in the face,

has one purple ear and one white one. He stares in terror at that '255 x 15'

written on the blackboard. The TEACHER yells, waving a birch rod in her hand.

TEACHER:

Well then?! Five times five

equals...?

COLA stops to think a moment, then...

COLA:

Thirty!

The TEACHER grabs him by the purple ear and bashes his head against the numbers

on the blackboard. A large thud echoes through the room, followed by a roar of

laughter. The TEACHER slams her rod on the desk.

TEACHER:

Silence!!

(Then to COLA)

The five times table. Dunce! One

times five, five!!

(The class repeats with

the TEACHER, in a sing-

song chorus:
)

TEACHER and CLASS

Two times five, ten! Three times

five, fifteen! Four times five,

twenty!

(With a wave of the rod,

the TEACHER silences the

class, and finishes the

sing-song with the fateful

question.)

TEACHER:

Five times five?

COLA:

(Timidly)

Forty...?

Another blow of the head on the blackboard. Hubbub.

Slapping of the rod on the desk. SALVATORE secretly shows

COLA the picture of a Christmas tree on one page of the book,

and mouths the word 'twenty-five'. COLA smiles, he has finally

caught on.

TEACHER:

I'm asking you for the last time,

blockhead! Five times five equals...?

(COLA turns to her with

smiling eyes and answers

blissfully:
)

COLA:

Christmas!!

SALVATORE clutches his head in anger, watches the TEACHER

flogging COLA on the back with the rod. COLA screams at every

blow, and at every blow the laughter in the class grows louder.

SALVATORE stares at the rod moving up and down rhythmically. But he is not

thinking of the pain his schoolmate is feeling, but is drawn, rather, by that

strange regular beat, finds it similar to another regular beat, that of...

11 CINEMA PARADISO. BALCONY AND MAIN FLOOR. INT. DAY

...the rolling pin ALFREDO uses to flatten out a reel of film that has just

been unloaded. SALVATORE carefully watches ALFREDO 5 every move. He is not in

the projection booth, but up in the balcony, standing on top of the last row of

seats. He peers through the hole next to the lion's head. His bright little eyes

fix in his mind the things ALFREDO does, as he loads the film into the

projector, shuts the fireproof housings, turns on the amplifier, checks the

carbons in the arc lamp, then lowers his head to have a look into the theatre

and finds himself face to face with SALVATORE.

ALFREDO:

(Sternly)

What are you doing here?

SALVATORE:

I bought a ticket. I've come to see

the film.

(Meanwhile the USHER comes

up behind him and grabs

him by the collar, and he

almost jumps out of his

skin. ALFREDO laughs.)

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