Cinema Paradiso Page #6

SALVATORE:

Signora Anna!

17 CINEMA PARADISO. PROJECTION ROOM AND SQUARE. INT/EXT. DAY

ALFREDO starts up the projector. It's time for the documentaries and

cartoons. SALVATORE peers in from the top of the stairs. He's scared of

ALFREDO'S reaction, but pricks up his courage and shows him the

packet. ALFREDO sees him, is about to pounce on him...

SALVATORE:

(On the defensive)

Your wife told me to bring you this.

His expression betrays the 'put on'. ALFREDO sighs, realizes it's another one of

his little games.

ALFREDO:

(Sternly)

Give it to me!...

He takes the packet, unwraps it and lifts the lid, shuts it again and puts the

container inside the lamp of the projector to keep it warm. SALVATORE hasn't

missed a single gesture, but speaks with his eyes

to the poor.

SALVATORE:

I told my mother you weren't the one

who gave me the films. That it

wasn't your fault. But I thought you

said the film could catch fire just

to scare me. Now that I know, I won't

steal any more from you. That's all I

wanted to say. I'm going.

(He turns to leave but

ALFREDO takes him by the

shoulder and stops

him.)

ALFREDO:

Toto, come here.

All things considered, there is something in that little boy, maybe his

feverish passion, that strikes him. He'll talk to him seriously, without

resorting to terrorism, try to convince him. He lowers the volume of the

monitor, sits down on the stool. SALVATORE raises his eyes from the floor and

looks at him at last...

ALFREDO:

Now listen to what I've got to say. I

took up this profession when I

was ten years old. In those days

there weren't these modern machines.

The films were silent. The projectors

were run by hand, like this, with a

crank. And you wound the crank all

day long. It was really rough going!

If you got tired and slowed down'

boom! Everything would go up in

flames!

SALVATORE:

Then why don't you want to teach it

to me too? Now that there's no more

cranking, and it's easier?

ALFREDO:

(Firmly)

Because I don't want to, Toto! This

is not a job for you. It's like being

a slave. You're always alone. You see

the same film over and over again,

because you have nothing else to do.

And you start talking to Greta Garbo

and Tyrone Power like a nut! You work

on holidays, on Christmas, on Easter.

Only on Good Friday are you free. But

if they hadn't put Jesus Christ on a

cross...You'd work Good Fridays too!

SALVATORE:

Then why don't you change jobs?

(ALFREDO sighs, irritated.

He reaches out to turn the

knob of the carbon rods.

He gazes at SALVATORE as

if he were a grown-up,

somebody who's making

things hard for him.)

ALFREDO:

Because I'm an idiot. How many other

guys in town know how to be a

projectionist? None! Only a jerk like

me could do it. Besides I wasn't

lucky. When I was a kid there was the

war! When I grew up, another war! Now

it's all different. Times have

changed. And you want to be a dope

like me? Huh? Answer me!

SALVATORE:

No...

ALFREDO:

Good for you, Toto. Good for you...

I'm only saying this for your own

good...

(He gets up and, speaking

all the while, goes into a

closet with a bucket

in it, the toilet of the

booth. He turns his back

and pees. )

Cooped up in here you die of heat in

the summer and of cold in the winter.

You breathe in smoke, gas fumes, and

earn practically nothing.

(SALVATORE listens to

him, but taking advantage

of the fact he can't be

seen, he turns the knob of

the carbon rods, just as

he had seen done a moment

before...)

SALVATORE:

(In a loud voice)

But don't you like anything about

what you do?

(SALVATORE gazes at the

photos on the wall:

Keaton, Garbo, Snow

White. ALFREDO

smiles to himself. Sure,

there's something about

that damn job he likes:)

ALFREDO:

With time...you get used to it.

Besides, when you hear from up here

that there's a full house and that

people are laughing, having fun...

Then you're happy too.

(ALFREDO is lost in

thought, doesn't notice

that the documentaries

and cartoons have

finished. The screen is

blank. And down in the

theatre laughter is not

heard but an uproar of

whistling and

swearing. SALVATORE'S eyes

sparkle, he seizes the

opportunity.

He turns on the lights and

stops the projector, just

as ALFREDO

would have done. At which

ALFREDO buttons up his

pants in a

hurry and rushes over

alarmed, but sees that

everything is in order.

SALVATORE looks at him all

smiles, as if he expected

a medal for

civil bravery. Instead,

ALFREDO reacts like a wild

animal.)

So I've been wasting my breath? You

pretend to agree with

me, but as soon as my back is turned,

you do what you want!

(He gives SALVATORE a kick

in the ass, shrieking:)

Get out of here! I don't want to lay

eyes on you again! This is

the last straw! Your mother's right,

you're crazy!!

(He pushes him towards the

stairs. SALVATORE suddenly

vanishes, scared out of

his wits. ALFREDO talks to

himself, in a

fury:
)

But how'd he do it? The little

bastard! By watching, he's

learned! It's incredible!

(He peers out of the

window, yelling, as he

sees SALVATORE

running through the

square. )

I'm letting the box office know

you're not to set foot even into

the theatre! There are no more

tickets for you! And I'm also

talking to Father Adelfio! You won't

be an altar boy any more

either!!! You little runt!

(SALVATORE looks at him.

Hates him. Yells something

offensive:
)

SALVATORE:

Alfredo, go f*** yourself!!!

(But his words are drowned

out by the sudden shouting

of the people outside the

café.)

CROWD:

Goal!! Holy Mother of God!!!

(A MAN in the crowd

crumples to the ground.

The others swarm around

him, alarmed. They hold up

his head. His face is

pale. They check the

coupon he is clutching in

his hand. A voice rises

like a siren from the

crowd.)

MAN:

Ciccio Spaccafico's won the

Sisal!!!!!

(The yell can be heard...)

I8 CINEMA PARADISO. INT. DAY

...inside the movie house. The audience murmurs. Somebody opens

an emergency exit...

SPECTATOR'S VOICE

The Neapolitan's won the lottery!!!

Let's go see, kids!!! Northerners are

always lucky!

(The whole audience leaps

up and heads for the exit.

Pushing. Shouting.

Laughing and Joking. )

19 SQUARE AND VILLAGE. EXT. MORNING

Summer has come. The village has a different look. The peddlers sing their

monotonous refrains in the village streets. In one street, women are busy

canning tomatoes. In one corner of the square, the SHEARER has finished clipping

the donkey and is now shaving the hair of a row of bare-chested URCHINS with

nothing on but their underwear. Then another MAN disinfects them by spraying

them with the hand pumps used to spray trees in the country. The URCHINS

laugh. The BILL-POSTER is hanging up the posters of a new film, 'TODAY AT CINEMA

PARADISO .

20 GRADE SCHOOL DINING HALL. INT. MORNING

The fifth-grade exams. In the vast dining hall all the children are seated, one

for each desk, under the watchful eyes of the teachers. SALVATORE, BOCCIA,

PEPPINO, MASINO and COLA have taken places here and there, as nervous as

everybody else. The EXAMINING BOARD MEMBER is dictating the text of the

arithmetic problem.

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