September 11: "Il Postino" and Poetry

I started screening one of my favorite movies for my class this afternoon--Il Postino:  The Postman.  My students are liking it a whole lot more than Citizen Kane.  There's something very beautiful and gentle about the movie.  I think it has something to do with Massimo Troisi's performance.  He's so engaging and funny.  And nothing can beat Philippe Noiret's Pablo Neruda.  Noiret made me want to travel to Chile and visit Neruda's home.

I remember the first time I saw Il Postino.  It was around 1994 or 1995, and I was living downstate, laboring in a PhD program.  My friend, Lisa, told me about this little Italian film about a postman who learns about love from Pablo Neruda.  She started talking about it and then lapsed into silence, holding a small, sad smile on her face.  "Just see it," she said.

I followed her advice.  I think it was Il Postino that convinced me I was a poet.  Before, I was under the impression I wanted to write fiction and be Flannery O'Connor.  After, I knew I wanted to write poetry and be Pablo Neruda (or at least Charles Bukowski).  I have held on to that belief ever since, much to my family's chagrin and consternation.  (I suppose there is the possibility of more money in fiction.)

Well, I am going to try to communicate my love of this film to my students.  I will probably fail, miserably.  But, at the very least, I will have introduced a whole new generation of students to Mario the postman and Pablo the poet.

Saint Marty thinks that's a pretty good deal.

Orson Welles or Pablo Neruda, take your pick