Cinema Paradiso Page #4

USHER:

(Yelling)

Go sit downstairs! You good-for-

nothing sponger! !

(To the audience)

Worse than rabbits they are!

SALVATORE has run downstairs. The main floor is more

crowded than the balcony, like every Sunday, and there is a greatdin. The BOY

selling ice-cream, soda pop and candy shouts and

runs around like a chicken with its head off. Now the lights dim,

the hubbub dies down and the performance starts. Before the film

there is a preview for Stagecoach. The screen fills with images ofJohn Wayne,

the pursuit of the stagecoach by hostile Indians

etc...

SALVATORE is sitting in the front rows, right under the screen,

next to BOCCIA, COLA, MASINO, PEPPINO and OTHER KIDS, all with their noses in

the air. BOCCIA, the biggest show off of the group, is smoking a cigarette. An

OLD MAN appears through the entrance curtain, takes a couple of steps and

shouts:
)

FIRST OLD MAN:

Hello, everybody!

AUDIENCE:

(At once)

Ssssssh!!! Ssssssh! Silence!

FIRST OLD MAN:

Can't I say hello?

USHER:

It's a double-feature today.

FIRST OLD MAN:

I couldn't care less. I come here to

sleep.

All at once, a chorus of shouts and whistles fills the theatre. Up

on the screen, a globe of the world appears, spinning among the

stars, the logo announcing the newsreel.

AUDIENCE:

(Hooting and whistling)

For Christ's sake! Cut it,

Alfredoooo!

The CHILDREN in the front rows also yell, but SALVATORE goes

on being alert. He turns and looks up at the holes of the projection

booth, as if it were an impregnable fortress. He watches the crazy

dancing of light in the glowing stream that opens towards him in a

cone. And besides, that lion's head, mysterious, almost gruesome,

emphasizes the enigmatic secret of the movies. In his dreamy eyes,

that lifeless lion seems to wake up with a ferocious roar.

SALVATORE has a frightened look...Another lion roaring. But up on the screen.

The MGM lion. The throng of children imitate the famous growl all together,

shaking their heads in unison.

CHILDREN:

Grrrr! Grrrrr!

The film starts:
it is Visconti's La terra trema. SALVATORE is in bliss. His

wide eyes looking up at the magic square of light. The title music. Another OLD

MAN enters at the back of the theatre, but before sitting down, says hello in a

loud voice.

SECOND OLD MAN:

Greetings to one and all!

AUDIENCE:

SSSSSH' Drop dead! Silence! Hey,

kids, we're here to see the film!

Now there is an important sequence. The audience is silent. Concentrated on the

screen. BOCCIA passes the lighted cigarette to SALVATORE. He takes a puff and

hands it on to the others without ever taking his eyes off the screen. The

beautiful star of the film appears on screen. A different kind of attention

takes hold of the excited audience. SALVATORE and the others stare at her with

open mouths...She leans towards the leading man, a languid expression, their

profiles touch. But all at once, just at the best part, there is a sudden jolt.

The kiss isn't seen.

AUDIENCE:

(Disappointed)

Ahhh! What a shame! I've been going

to the movies for twenty years and I

never saw a kiss!

SALVATORE is the only one to laugh to himself. He knows what has happened.

AUDIENCE:

And when will we see one?

Up in the balcony, the audience is more sedate. The tickets cost more and the

people are richer, more refined. Among them, a MAN with a moustache, the look of

a public notary, is sitting right in front of the railing. Seriously, without

batting an eye, he spits down below with contempt. Right on the dot, a voice is

heard, followed by a chorus of protests.

VOICE and AUDIENCE

Bugger!!! Ssssh!!! Silence!!

12 SQUARE AND ENTRANCE OF CINEMA PARADISO. EXT. NIGHT

The bell-tower rings midnight. The square is nearly deserted. Except

for a landowner near the refreshment stand, with a moustache and a

hat, DON VINCENZO by name, who is picking out from a group of

labourers the men he'll be needing in the country at dawn. He chooses,

points his finger, calls...

People come out of the movie house after the last showing.

The USHER locks the front door as ALFREDO climbs down from the

projection booth. Among the crowd there is only one kid, SALVATORE.

Tired, half-asleep. He's seen all the showings. He starts to walk away

when he catches sight of his mother standing on the opposite corner,

wrapped in an old coat. She's waiting for him, in a temper.

SALVATORE drops his eyes to the ground, mortified. He knows what's

coming. He goes over to her timidly, uncertain, gives her a questioning

look.

MARIA:

I've been looking for you all day.

Did you buy the milk?

SALVATORE:

No...

MARIA:

Then where's the money?

SALVATORE:

Somebody stole it.

MARIA gives him a slap. SALVATORE holds back the sobs, but

his eyes brim with tears. ALFREDO and the USHER are nearby,

have heard everything.

MARIA:

What'd you do with the money? Go to

the movies?

SALVATORE nods his head and the sobs increase. MARIA, in

despair, flies off the handle, slaps him again, but looks as if she

doesn't really want to, as if deep down she forgives her son's

escapade. ALFREDO catches on, speaks up on behalf of

SALVATORE.

ALFREDO:

Signora Maria, don't do that. He's

just a kid.

(To SALVATORE)

And why are you telling fibs?

(To MARIA)

We let him in free. He must have lost

the money inside the movie

theatre...

(SALVATORE stares at him

in amazement, goes on

listening to him.)

How much did you have?

SALVATORE:

Fifty lire...

(MARIA wipes away his tears.)

ALFREDO:

(To the USHER)

What you find tonight on the floor

between the seats?

(The USHER reaches into-

his pockets, pulls out

some odds and ends.)

USHER:

A comb, two heel-savers, a box of

tobacco...

(ALFREDO very skillfully

reaches out with fifty

lire he has taken

from his pocket. And like

a magician he draws the

money out of

the USHER'S hand.)

ALFREDO:

...and fifty lire!

(To MARIA)

See?

(He hands over the money

under the USHER'S

astonished eyes.)

MARIA:

Thanks, Uncle Alfredo. Thanks. Good-

night.

She walks away, dragging SALVATORE by the hand. ALFREDO

gives him a wink. SALVATORE smiles and winks back, but he's

not very good at it; he can't manage to shut only one eye.

Everybody leaves and the square empties, as the VILLAGE IDIOT

comes up to the group of labourers, beside DON VINCENZO,

motioning them all to get moving.

IDIOT:

It's midnight. I've got to shut down

the square! Go away.

The square's mine! The square's

mine!!

13 CEMETERY ROAD AND VILLAGE ROAD. EXT. DAY

SALVATORE, dressed as an altar boy, walks alongside the PRIEST

who is wearing the ceremonial vestments. They are tired, have walked

a long way. Behind them a donkey pulls a wagon containing a little

white coffin and a bunch of flowers. Behind that a little procession the

parents and relatives of the dead child. The road is very wide, covered

with white earth. The spring sun is dazzling. The funeral procession

kicks up a cloud of dust that makes everything blurred and hazy, like a

dream, rimmed around the horizon by the blue line of the sea. The

procession now turns into the large gate of the cemetery. ALFREDO,

working in the fields, takes his hat off and watches the coffin as it passes by.

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