Even if it is just to make one's ordinary life more meaningful, even if it is to pursue the beautiful love in the heart, people still need the inspiration of poetry and words to sublimate their spiritual feelings, express their emotions and thoughts more accurately, and let themselves and all things in the world be in harmony. Have more connections and become interesting people who can dominate their own soul.
I watched an Italian movie in the 90s that is rich in light and shadow masterpieces - [The Postman]. The film's extremely simple storyline, and its beautiful, abandoned seascape of the southern Italian island, is immersed in the world politics of the 1950s. Through the interaction between the world-renowned Chilean poet [Pablo Neruda] who was exiled to the island and the local postman [Mario] who delivered the letter for him, it reflects an ordinary postman under the influence of poetry. The spiritual sublimation and attempt to resist the unfair life.
See how a postman who doesn't read much is elevated!
A staunch communist [Nenuda] had to leave his native Chile and come to Italy for political reasons. In Rome, he was warmly welcomed by fans of Italian poetry, and then moved to a small island in southern Italy. The small island where Nenuda temporarily lives has a simple folk customs, a backward economy, and insufficient fresh water supply. The government has not made any efforts to improve it. Most of the town's residents are illiterate, and most of them make a living by fishing.
An older young man who can read and write [Mario] has nothing to do all day, and does not want to fish for a job. One day, I was talking with my fisherman's father about his unrealistic ideals. His father advised him to find a job to make a living first. [Mario] hired a postman with meager wages in the town, and delivered letters from all over the world for the poet Nenuda every day. In this way, [Mario] becomes the only link between [Nenuda] and the outside world. Mario, who has low self-esteem, was curious about the comfortable life of the great poet and his beautiful wife, gradually became interested in his poetry, and gradually became friends with Neruda. Use something else to express what you want to describe.
He was also told by the poet that if every sentence of the poem is explained clearly, the poem will be boring, and he should use emotional experience to understand and comprehend the poem. Mario seems to understand. Seeing the letters that great poets receive every day from female poets fans around the world, Mario also wants to be a poet. Nenuda told him to pay more attention to the little things around him every day.
Once at the seaside, Nenuda asked Mario to help him solve the problem of water shortage. Mario said that the government only distributes fresh water once at the end of the month, and the lack of water at the end of the month is normal. The government has not improved the situation, and the residents are only complaining privately. Neruda said that one should strive to change the inequalities in life. After speaking, he improvised and recited a poem. Mario may not have understood the verse, but he was shaken by the poet's spirit of resistance, and the consciousness that people should resist to change the status quo seems to be distracted.
Not long after Mario delivered a letter, he met the beautiful girl [Beatrice] in the tavern in town. He fell in love with her at first sight. Clumsy, he only said five words when interacting with the girl.
Mario, who is in love, finds Nenuda, hoping that the poet can help write a love poem in order to pursue Beatrice. Having never seen Beatrice herself, the poet refused.
Another day, the poet receives a tape from his hometown in Chile. The poetry collection written by the poet for the people at the bottom of the motherland has been published, and the people of the hometown thank the poet. Mario, who was present, also listened to the tape, the voice of the people in the poet's hometown. Neruda decides to go to the tavern with Mario to meet Beatrice.
Mario, who appeared in the tavern with the great poet who had never appeared in town and interacted as a friend, won the attention of the beauty.
Afterwards, with the encouragement of the poet, Mario used poetry to confess to Beatrice by the sea:
Your smile spreads across your face like a butterfly
Your smile is like a sudden silver wave
Naked you are as slender as the budding wheat
Naked you are as blue as a Cuban river. . . . .
Beatrice by the sea smiled. The Kojima man had seen her beauty, but only in the senses. No one has ever praised himself with such beautiful things and words. His beautiful face and body can be expressed by such a simple, vivid and indescribable poem. This is a more advanced, soul-bound description of one 's own beauty . Beatrice could no longer ignore this ordinary man, her heart moved. Although the beautiful poetry is regarded by Beatrice's aunt as Mario's trick to seduce and possess his own niece, Beatrice has decided to promise her.
Under the witness of the poet, Mario and Beatrice finally got married, but at the same time, the poet also received the cancellation of his country's wanted order, and he and his wife can return to Chile. Although Mario was reluctant, he was still happy for the poet to return to his motherland, and hoped that the poet could write to himself.
With local elections underway, hypocritical politicians promise to install water pipes for townspeople and make Beatrice's tavern prepare meals for construction workers for two years. Sober Mario doubted the sincerity of the politicians, and he was quite critical about it, but he was helpless. For this reason, the family also took on foreign debts.
But once the politician was elected, half of the project was stopped, and Beatrice and her aunt believed in the politician's promise to come back and finish the project. An angry Mario said in the face of the politicians that repairing the water pipe was just to attract votes from the beginning. But he is too weak to change the status quo.
Soon Beatrice became pregnant. Mario was excited to receive a letter from Chile, the first letter in his life, but the secretary [Nenuda] asked Mario to send the items left by the poet on the Italian island back to Chile.
Disappointed, but at the same time understand that Nenuda, as a busy poet, is unlikely to write to himself. See the poet's item covered with gray layers, and hear his own voice in the tape before. Mario decides to send a gift to the poet himself. With the help of the post office boss, Mario recorded the most beautiful sounds he perceives in the world with the equipment left by Nenuda, ready to send to the poet: the sound of the waves, the sound of the church bell, the wind through the bushes, the unborn son heartbeat.
A few years later, Nenuda and his wife quietly returned to the island, ready to surprise Mario. But only met Mario's son, Pablo, named after the poet. Beatrice told the poet:
[Pablo] is a posthumous son, Mario, who was inspired and enlightened by the poet, attended a workers' rally a few years ago. Beatrice wanted to stop him, but Mario insisted on going, because Mario was recommended by the co-workers to recite the poems he wrote at the meeting, and poets far away in Chile would also be proud of him. But before he could read his first poem, Mario died in the crackdown of the authorities.
Nenuda was lost in thought, walking alone on the beach where he and Mario had talked. . . . . The older young people in the seaside town discovered and had more meaning in life because of their encounters and acquaintances with poets, and because of the power of poetry to cleanse their souls, they took the initiative to become the people they wanted to become. Although we were born with bad luck, as a human being, there is a soul that strives to resist and change our lives, which is always worthy of praise.
The image of this film is simple and beautiful; the soundtrack is like a small island of sea water coming slowly, refreshing, like a spring breeze, and a hint of melancholy blown by the sea. Italian actor Massimo Tracy, who starred in The Postman, died of a heart attack 12 days after starring and co-directing The Postman. He used his life to write the postman's psalm .
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(The original text was first published on the public account "Iron Rice", so stay tuned!)
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