The week was devoted to watching Cinema Paradiso. I tried to look at it from the usual perspective. It was a bit hard but I think I noticed some bits that would be relevant to what I learned about movies.

Near the end, in the scene where in Toto's mother was knitting, the camera focused on her hands and what she was making. When Toto arrived, the camera had stayed there and we saw a minute long scene of whatever was knitted untangling on the arm chair. I've been wondering what this could mean and what the director was trying to convey. Could the unraveling of the yarn signify the return of Toto not only to where he grew up but to the memories he left there and the young man he used to be? Or could it be the emotional barrier his mother had put up when Toto had left so that she wouldn't miss him so much. I don't know. That last speculation is a little unfounded though. Aside from that, when Toto had returned from Rome after his military service, the plaza was almost empty and no one was there to greet him but a dog. I think this set the tone for the changes that had happened. Alfredo had been avoiding contact with other people, his car had been made in to a chicken house and Elena was missing. The town was completely barren and changed. It wasn't the town that he had left.

I don't really remember the other scenes that I was supposed to write about but if I do remember them then I will.

Oh yeah, the scene where in a young Toto was sitting on the spiral staircase of Cinema Paradiso with an unconscious Alfredo somehow reminded me of Gone With The Wind.