Cinema Paradiso Page #8

SALVATORE:

Will they really find work in

Germany?

ALFREDO:

Who knows?...It's like an adventure.

(In a theatrical voice)

Hope springs eternal...

(PEPPINO from the distance

gives one last wave at the

window of the

projection booth.

SALVATORE waves back.)

SALVATORE:

Peppinoooo! Come back sooon!!

(The black car drives off,

leaving a cloud of dust

that envelops the

suppressed sobs of the

grandparents standing

there waving

handkerchiefs. SALVATORE

watches the car drive off.

He mumbles:
)

Good thing Germany's closer than

Russia.

ALFREDO rubs his hand through his hair.

24 CINEMA PARADISO. BALCONY AND BOOTH. INT. EVENING

The lion's head with the beam of light, seen from the balcony.

SALVATORE'S face appears in the hole beside it, as he peers down at the

images of the Settimana Incom newsreel.

The audience is distracted. The snoring of a man sleeping can be heard.

A pair of urchins pick up a cockroach with their hands, tip-toe down the

aisle. The sleeping man is the same old BLACKSMITH, with his head

thrown back. A little hand drops the cockroach into the gaping mouth.

The URCHINS take to their heels. The BLACKSMITH squirms, wake up

with a start. Spits, while everybody laughs. The newsreel is now about

missing soldiers in Russia.

COMMENTATOR:

The Defense Minister has announced a

new listof names of Italian soldiers,

so far considered missing and now

confirmed as dead. Families concerned

will be notified directly by military

authorities.

SALVATORE pays careful attention, sees the black-and-white

shots of the last war. The Russian campaign. The troops in the

snow. Now in detail a heap of personal objects found on the

corpses. Documents, clothing, glasses, photographs. One quick

detail catches SALVATORE's eye among those photographs, for one

instant he sees one he thinks he recognizes. He quickly sticks a slip of paper

into the take-up reel, as when marking the kisses to be cut.

25 PREFECTURE. CITY. INT. DAY

The hands of an OFFICIAL tear off several forms and give them to

MARIA who is sitting in front of the desk. She is dressed in black.

SALVATORE stands beside her, holding her hand. They have black

bands on their arms. An empty stare in their eyes.

MARIA is pale, a cold look in her sunken eyes. Her heart is bursting in

her breast. And a lump in her throat prevents her from speaking. She

looks at her husband's belongings, identifies them a gold chain, an ID

card and the photograph, the one SALVATORE saw in the newsreel.

MARIA strokes it with her fingers. SALVATORE comes up and looks, as

the OFFICIAL concludes:

OFFICIAL:

...Unfortunately we don't know what

war cemetery he's buried in...This

is the form for the pension. If you'd

like to sign it...

26 PREFECTURE AND CITY STREET. EXT. DAY

MARIA walks through the city. She holds SALVATORE by the hand. SALVATORE looks

up, trying to catch her eye. He sees her crying, in silence. The heartbroken

tears of someone who has lost the one last hope, but held back, so as not to be

seen by the child. SALVATORE presses close and puts his arm around her waist.

They turn the corner, and walk off in the noisy city, disfigured by the ruins of

war. A poster for Gone with the Wind catches SALVATORE's eye. He smiles.

27 CINEMA PARADISO. BOX OFFICE. PROJECTION BOOTH. SQUARE. INT/EXT. EVENING

Winter has returned. On the screen, a sequence from I pompieri di Viggiu. The

theatre is jam full. The sea of heads sways and shakes at the irresistible jokes

of Toto.

Some people have climbed up on the window-sills. The aisles are crammed, an the

way down to the screen, where grown-ups and children sit on the floor, their

noses in the air. Some people munch crusts of bread they've brought along from

home. Almost everybody is smoking. A woman laughs, holding the baby she is

nursing. In one corner, at the end of one of the aisles jammed with people

standing, a girl laughs, but every now and then her expression reveals a look of

deep pleasure.

Her body moves slightly. Clinging to her from the rear is a man bathed in sweat.

They are making love standing there among the crowd, which notices nothing and

goes on laughing.

In the balcony ANGELO is holding hands with ROSA.

The curtain over the entrance is open. People are also standing there,

seeing what they can from the distance, even a corner of the screen

through the forest of heads. But the line continues on outside...All the

way to the entrance of the movie house, out in the square. There are

crowds of people, shivering from the cold, who protest, shove, risk

provoking incidents. The PRIEST, Father Adelfio, is exhausted, tries to

calm them down.

PRIEST:

Don't shove! There's no room! For

heaven's sake! I can't

give another showing, it's late!

VOICES IN CROWD:

Father Adelfio, we've been here for

an hour! There are people inside

who've seen it twice! ! ! Move on!!

Ouch!! My foot!!!

It has just stopped raining, the bell-tower rings eleven o'clock. On

the poster of the film a ' LAST DAY' sticker. The PRIEST, the

TICKET-SELLER, the USHER and TWO CARABINIERES push the crowd back, close the

front door. The protest grows louder. Fists pound the door.

CROWD:

Open up!!! Father Adelfio!!

(The audience in the

theatre hears the uproar.

Reacts:
)

AUDIENCE:

Ssssh! Sssssh! Be quiet out there!!

What the hell!

(From the window of the

projection booth, ALFREDO

and SALVATORE look at the

crowd down below, yelling

and complaining. Some of

the people look up at

them. )

VOICES IN CROWD:

Alfredooo! We want to get in!...

Tomorrow you're taking it off!

(ALFREDO spreads his arms

out as if to say there s

nothing he can do.)

SALVATORE:

Why can't we show the same film

tomorrow?

ALFREDO:

It's got to be sent to another town.

And if we don't the owner of that

movie house gets pissed off.

SALVATORE:

Too bad!

The crowd sways nervously. The CARABINIERES give order.

CARABINIERES:

(Exasperated)

Stop! Go home, all of you! Otherwise

somebody's going to end up in jail!'

That's enough!

ALFREDO:

(Dramatically)

'Joe! A mob doesn't think, doesn't

know what it's doing...'

(SALVATORE gives him a

curious, inquisitive look.

ALFREDO smiles.)

Spencer Tracy said it in Fury.

(Mischievously)

What'd you say if we let these poor

devils see the film, Toto?

(SALVATORE stares at him

in amazement, all

excited.)

SALVATORE:

Wonderful! But how can it be done?

ALFREDO turns away from the window. He gives a smirk, imitates the tough

American movie stars.

ALFREDO:

You don't believe my words, but

you'll have to believe your own

eyes!...And now get your ass off

that damn stool, boy!

SALVATORE laughs, eagerly, as if he were about to see a whole new movie. He

climbs off the stool. Both of them move towards the projector...

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