Yes, Salvatore... Salvatore Di Vita.
What do you mean, you don't know him?
I'm his mother. I've been calling from Sicily...
all day long.
I see... he's not there.
Then, please, can you tell me...
656... 220... 56.
Thank you. Goodbye.
Mama, it's useless to call. He's busy.
He won't remember any more.
Come on, let it go.
He hasn't been here in 30 years.
You know how he is.
He'll remember. I'm sure he'll remember.
If he finds out later we didn't tell him,
he'll be angry.
I'd like to talk...
to Mr. Salvatore Di Vita. I'm his mother.
Salvatore...
What time is it?
Very late.
I'm sorry. I wasn't able to call you.
Go back to sleep.
Your mother called.
She thought I was someone else.
What did you tell her?
I played along. We had a long talk.
She said you haven't visited her in 30 years.
When she wants to see you, she has to come to Rome.
She called just to say that?
She said someone's died... someone named Alfredo.
The funeral is tomorrow.
Who is he? A relative?
No... go to sleep.
The boy will be the death of me. How can I say Mass?
Totò!
Better late than never.
Without the bell, I lose my place!
Always sleeping! What do you do at night? Eat?
Father, at my house, we don't even eat at noon.
The veterinarian says that's why I'm always so tired.
I know why you're tired. Don't think I don't!
Now run along home. I've got something to do.
- Can I come? - No, you can't.
- Yes, yes! - Totò, out!
- I want to! - No!
Alfredo!
- Yes? - You can start.
Here we go again.
The frame!
THE LOWER DEPTHS
Pepe, one day we'll have it all.
We'll go away together.
Live the easy life...
where no one knows us.
Forget it.
You don't love me any more.
One pair, two pairs!
100 lire! Real nylon!
You mustn't come here.
I told you and told you. It's like talking to a wall!
If the film catches fire, little as you are...
"I turn into a chunk of charcoal."
Like to mouth off, eh?
One day I'll cut it off.
Like that.
Can I have it?
Well, can I?
You're as deaf as a post! I have to splice it back...
before I return the film. What a pest you are!
Why didn't you splice these before you gave the films back?
Sometimes I can't find the right place, so...
they stay here. Anyway, they kiss too much.
Then can I have them.
No, now, look... come here.
Before I kick your fanny, I'll make you a deal.
All those are yours, a present.
Thanks.
One: Don't come here any more, two: They stay with me. Got it?
- All right. - Then we agree. Now, scram!
If they're mine, how come you get to keep them?
Don't come back, or I'll thrash you!
"Shoot first, think later."
"This is no job for weaklings!"
"You traitorous dog!"
"Hey, you dirty swine! Hands off that gold!"
"Blackhearted pig! Stay away from me...
or I'll smash your face in!"
If the war's over, why doesn't papa come back?
He'll come back, you'll see. One of these days.
I don't remember him. Where's Russia?
It takes years to get there...
and years to come back.
Go to bed. It's late.
You can hoodwink your mother, but not me!
Get your diploma...
and join the police! Lazybones!
Good-for-nothing! Get in there and study or you're dead!
Well? How much is 5 times 5?
30.
Silence! The fives table, dimwit!
1 times 5 is 5.
2 times 5 is 10
3 times 5 is 15
4 times 5 is 20.
5 times 5?
40.
Silence!
Boccia! 25!
Learn your tables, or you'll never get a job.
For the last time... what is 5 times 5?
Christmas!
I paid to get in! I'm seeing the movie!
Get down from there, you little devil!
Go back to your seat!
They're worse than rabbits! They're all over the place!
Little monsters!
I'm off to Oregon. Wait for me at my ranch.
Wait for a dead man?
A star-studded cast...
featuring John Wayne and Claire Trevor...
Hello, everyone!
- Can't I say hello? - Double feature today.
So? I'm here to sleep.
- What do you smoke? - Americans.
Cut the news, Alfredo!
ITALY WON'T FORGET: THE RESISTANCE RALLY.
The men and women who fought in secret...
brave guerrillas, reunited in Rome...
for the First Resistance Rally.
THE EARTH TREMBLES
- What does it say? - I'm illiterate.
- You, too? - Yes.
Italian is not the language spoken by the poor in Sicily.
Twelve hours of blood and sweat...
to bring home barely enough...
to keep from starving.
Yet their nets were full,
when they pulled them up.
20 years I've gone to movies, and I've never seen a kiss!
And when will we?
Kiss my ass!
- Don Vincenzo... - You and you, to work.
What about me?
Go get a job from Stalin.
His day will come, even here! You'll see!
I always get left out.
Good movie. The kid really acted well.
Too bad he was so unlucky.
What a jackass he was to buy that boat!
Idiot! You didn't get it at all.
Right, boys, you'll work from dawn to dusk.
And don't ask how much it pays.
I waited all day. Did you buy the milk?
- No. - The money?
Stolen.
You spent it on movies?
- Yes. - Movies, always movies!
- Signora Maria, wait! - Leave him alone!
Take it easy! And you, why do you tell lies?
You know you got in free. Tell your mother.
Maybe he lost the money inside.
- How much? - 50 lire.
What did you find tonight... under the seats?
A comb...
two show lifts...
- a can of tobacco... - And...
50 lire.
- See? - Thanks.
Thank you, Alfredo.
I understood right away.
The square is mine!
It's mine!
It's midnight!
Out! Shoo! I have to close the square!
The square is mine!
Hard on the feet, eh, Father?
Going, it's downhill, and all the Saints help out.
But coming back, the Saints just watch.
If that's God's will...
See you tonight.
- What's wrong? - My foot!
Your foot this time? It's always something.
What can we do?
Alfredo, did you know my father?
Of course, I knew him!
Tall, thin, jolly... with a nice mustache, like mine.
Always smiling. A lot like Clark Gable.
Now that I'm older and going to fifth grade...
I don't say I should come in the booth...
but can we at least... be friends?
"I choose my friends for looks,
my enemies for intelligence."
You're too clever to be my friend.
I always tell my children...
"Be careful how you choose your friends."
You haven't got any children.
When I do, I'll tell him.
Don't cry, it's all right.
The fire's out. It's over.
- I'm here. - What happened?
Monster! Your little sister...
could've burned to death
and it's all your fault!
I told you not to keep your film under the bed by the firepan!
Even the photographs burned!
The house nearly caught on fire!
You and your stupid movies!
Aren't you ashamed to be playing with a boy at your age?
Don't look at me! What did I do?
Who gave him the film?
Don't do it again! He goes crazy!
All I hear is movies! Movies, Alfredo!
Swear you won't let him in again. Swear it!
You have my word.
God grant me this:
Send your father home to whip you!
Papa isn't coming back, and I know why! He's dead!
That's not true!
He'll come back. You'll see!
They smoke like chimneys.
No, go buy a ticket!
What was that?
I'll make mincemeat out of you! You'll have to reckon with me!
Signora Anna!
Don't blame me.
Your wife told me to bring your lunch.
I told my mother you didn't give me the film.
It wasn't your fault. I thought it was a joke...
about film catching fire.
I just wanted to tell you. Now I'll go.
Totò... come here.
Come on... come sit down.
Now, listen.
I got into this business at the age of ten.
Back then, we didn't have fancy machines.
Movies were silent.
You turned the projector by hand, with a crank.
The whole livelong day!
And it was hard, that damn crank.
If you got tired and slowed down a bit...
like a shot... voom! Everything burned.
So why don't you teach me?
Now that there's no crank and it's so easy.
Because I don't want to.
It's no kind of job for you. You're like a slave...
and always alone.
You see a film 100 times. There's nothing else to do.
You talk to Tyrone Power and Greta Garbo like a looney bird.
You work like a mule. Even holidays: Easter, Christmas...
You only get Good Friday off.
And if they hadn't stuck Christ on a cross...
we'd work then, too.
So why don't you change jobs?
Because I'm a nitwit.
Who else around here could run a projector?
Nobody. It takes an imbecile like me.
And I never had any luck.
So, you want to be a stick-in-the-mud like me?
Attaboy, Totò!
I only tell you for your own good.
Cooped up in here, suffocating in the summer...
freezing in the winter. Breathing fumes...
and you earn chicken feed.
Don't you like anything about it?
Oh, it grows on you. Sometimes you listen...
and the house is full of people giggling and laughing,
then you're happy, too.
It makes you feel good to hear them.
Like you're the one who made them laugh...
who made them forget their troubles.
That part I like.
I might as well speak Greek! What are you up to?
You pretend to listen, then you clown around!
Your mother's right! You're a scatterbrain!
How'd that rascal do it?
He learned by watching.
I'm telling the manager not to let you in!
And I'll see Father Adelfio!
No more altar boy! Finished!
UP yours!
I got it! I won!
I won the football lottery!
Hey! Ciccio from Naples won the lottery!
The Neapolitan won the lottery!
It's always the Northerners who are lucky!
The square is mine!
Hold still! Horseflies bothering you?
You got a lice factory up here! Beat it!
Do want me to smack you? Get out of here!
A merchant... owns two stores.
In one, he sells fruit.
Be seated. Professor here are the men...
taking the exam for the grade school diploma.
Silence!
Rotten like stinker!
- Totò, help me. - Silence!
- I can't do this damn thing. - Silence!
Francesco Messana, you're under arrest.
Kiss my ass! Pencil-pusher!
Right here is where it can catch fire.
If it does, cut here and here
or the whole reel will burn. Got it?
Never! We'll never have that here!
Which side is the gelatin on?
It tastes good.
Always keep the shipping invoices for the films.
I will, Alfredo.
Don't ever forget.
This is for you. Today you load the reels yourself.
- It's so high! - Now you can run it alone.
Hold it!
- What a build! - My turn!
Say goodbye to Peppino. He's leaving for Germany.
Why won't you say goodbye?
My father says he's a Communist.
God keep you, mama.
Will he really find work in Germany?
Who knows. It's like playing the lottery. You live on hope.
Screw this country!
Go work in Germany, you and your Stalin!
Goodbye, mama!
Goodbye, Peppino! Come back soon!
599 you!
Lucky thing Germany is closer than Russia.
After six years, the return of spring fashion.
Fresh and breezy unlike the pompous styles of wartime.
I'll make mincemeat out of you!
"You'll have to reckon with me!"
Another sad page in the tragedy of...
our men in Russia.
The Defense Ministry has released a new list...
of Italian dead until now considered missing.
The names will be posted by local military authorities.
Families concerned will be notified.
However, we don't know where he's buried.
Here's the pension form. Sign it, please.
Out! Go home! We can't have another show!
It's late! Be reasonable! We can't show it again!
Some people sat through it twice!
We've been waiting for an hour!
Tomorrow we'll have another movie.
A western! I promise!
Go home to bed!
They'll wreck the Paradise! All hell will break loose!
Alfredo, let us in!
What can I do?
"A mob doesn't think.
It has no mind of it's own."
Spencer Tracy said that in "Fury".
Well, what do you say?
Shall we let the poor devils see their film?
Fantastic! But, how?
"If you have no faith in me,
have faith in what you see."
Now get your fanny off that stool.
Get ready...
Abracadabra...
And we pass through walls.
Go look out the window.
Alfredo, it's beautiful!
Over there! It's the movie!
Bravo, Alfredo!
Thank you, Alfredo!
What's going on?
It's a movie!
To hell with you!
There's no sound!
Shall we make them happy?
Want to go down?
Go on.
- Look. - Good Lord!
Nunzio... half-price.
You have to buy tickets, folks.
- Reduced rates. - Up yours! The square...
- belongs to everyone! - No! The square is mine!
Don't joke about that! It makes me mad!
Help! Help!
Poor Alfredo. What a shame.
All burned! It all burned down!
What do we do now? We have no more entertainment.
Where will we get the money to rebuild?
Take a look at Ciccio! So spiffy you'd hardly know him.
Who has that kind of money?
The new Cinema Paradise!
Come in, come in!
This theater is for you!
He's just a boy. What about the labor laws?
I got the license through my connections.
Don't ask me how their minds work.
Officially, I'm the projectionist,
but the money goes to Totò.
Stay on your toes, Totò. No sleeping.
Do what poor Alfredo taught you.
And God bless you.
Thank you, Father.
What is this, a funeral? Life goes on! Gaiety! Music!
Get a load of that!
Our Father...
By God, they're kissing!
I won't watch pornography.
Three cheers for Ciccio!
Any room for me in this new paradise?
Alfredo!!
Bring him home after you close.
I'm going, Alfredo.
It's great that you came!
How are things at school?
Fine, but now that I'm working maybe I won't go any more.
No, no, Totò, don't do that.
You'll end up regretting it.
What do you mean?
What I mean is...
this isn't your real work.
Right now, the Paradise needs you...
and you need the Paradise, but it's only temporary.
One day you'll go on to other things.
Things...
that are more important.
Definitely more important.
I know. Now that I've lost my sight, I see better.
Things I never saw before.
All thanks to you, who saved my life.
I won't forget it.
And don't look that way. I'm not senile yet.
- You want proof? - Yes.
For example...
the projection is out of focus, right now.
Check it.
You're right! The image is out of focus!
- How did you know? - It's difficult to explain.
What are you doing? You dirty pigs! Watch the movie!
Hold still!
I told you. It doesn't catch fire any more.
Progress always comes too late.
Workers!!
She's a new schoolgirl.
She looks nice.
She's the daughter of the new bank's director.
They're terribly rich.
Go! Come on!
Go, man, go!
Excuse me.
You dropped this.
Oh, thanks. I didn't even notice.
My name's Salvatore. What's yours?
Elena. My name's Elena.
I wanted to tell you... well... the other day, at the station...
It's at the start.
The small projector? Your footage?
- Yes. - What do you see?
Slaughterhouse workers killing a heifer.
Blood all over the floor... like a lake.
Over the lake comes another heifer...
about to die.
Why did you stop? What do you see now?
Nothing. We don't see anything. It's all fuzzy.
A woman.
It's a woman.
Yes, a girl I saw at the station.
What's she like?
She's very nice.
My age... slim... long brown hair.
Big eyes, very blue... honest and direct.
A little beauty mark on her lip.
Very small. You only see it up close.
When she smiles, you feel like...
- I don't know... - Love.
Love.
I know how it is.
The blue-eyed ones are the worst.
No matter what you do, there's nothing you can do.
The bigger the man... the deeper his imprint.
And if he loves, he suffers,
knowing it's a dead-end street.
That's nice, what you just said... but sad.
John Wayne said that in "Shepherd of the Hills".
You old sneak!
- Hello, Elena. - Why are you running?
Because...
I... wanted to tell you...
you remember when... we...
Nice day, isn't it?
Yes, really nice.
Excuse me. I have to go. Bye.
What a jerk!
"Nice day, isn't it?" Of all the stupid things!
I told you so. You thought I was joking.
But take it from me,
the blue-eyed ones are the worst.
Why? There must be a way to make her understand.
Don't even try. With feelings...
there's nothing to understand and no way to explain.
Oh, you made the world!
With due respect to the Lord, who made it in 2 or 3 days...
I'd have taken a bit longer...
but, in all modesty, I would've done it better.
Like I said, you always have an answer.
Just for you, Totò, I'll tell you a stow.
Let's sit down a minute. Misery of miseries!
Once a king gave a feast...
for the loveliest princesses in the realm.
Now, a soldier who was standing guard...
saw the king's daughter go by.
She was the most beautiful of all, and he fell in love.
But what is a simple soldier
next to the daughter of a king?
At last he succeeded in meeting her,
and he told her he could no longer live without her.
The princess was so taken by the depth of his feeling...
that she said to the soldier...
"if you can wait for 100 days...
and 100 nights under my balcony,
at the end of it I shall be yours."
With that, the soldier went and waited...
one day, two days... then ten... then twenty.
Each evening the princess looked out,
and he never moved!
In rain, in wind, in snow, he was always there!
Birds shat on his head, bees stung him...
but he didn't budge.
At the end of ninety nights...
he had become...
all dry, all white.
Tears streamed from his eyes.
He couldn't hold them back.
He didn't even have the strength to sleep.
And all that time, the princess watched him.
At long last, it was the 99th night...
and the soldier stood up,
took his chair and left.
What happened at the end?
This "is" the end.
And don't ask what it means. I don't know.
If you figure it out, you tell me.
Only one print? You know I need two!
One for the Paradise and one for the next town!
You promised!
I put up posters, made commitments!
If you screw me, watch out!
One print for two theaters!
You'll pay for this!
I'm from Naples! You'll see Naples and die!
We see the crib. The child's asleep.
Do something!
"The lawyer told me. Now I know."
The lawyer told me. Now I know.
"And everyone must know. Yes... everyone must know."
Everyone must know.
"You... believe me?"
"Yes... I believe you."
"Our own home! How I've dreamed of it."
"Tonino!"
"Mama!"
"The End."
I don't like it! I don't like it!
I cut the end credits to go faster.
Hurry back with Part One. I'll show a newsreel.
- Okay. - I'll call the police!
Take him! Just a minute!
Give me Part Two! Here's Part One!
Hurry, the house is packed!
Come on, slowpoke! Get her rolling!
Bunch of animals! Quiet!
Come on, Totò! They'll explode!
- It's been half an hour! - What can I do?
Where is that son of a bitch? I'll be ruined!
Calm down!
I'll have you know, just to see this movie...
I left my wife home sick in bed.
And I haven't seen a thing.
If it's not here in 10 minutes give us back our money
me and everyone here, or with this I'll wreck the place!
Calm down and let me talk!
I'll show Part One again.
Quiet! I've seen the whole movie.
I'll tell you the plot.
- Alfredo, what is it? - Father Adelfio!
I can't! The Host is on the altar.
Father, I need you urgently because...
I have doubts, terrible doubts tormenting my soul!
- Your soul?! - Yes.
- Father, I've sinned... - Do that after.
- But, who? - Stay there. Don't move.
Just act normal. It's Salvatore.
How did you get in here?
Alfredo, that's a terrible thing to say.
I know. But take the miracle...
- of the loaves and fishes. - What about it?
I always wondered, how is it possible?
I had to talk to you.
You're beautiful, Elena. That's what I wanted to tell you.
When we meet, I can't say anything right because...
you give me shivers.
I don't know what others do in these cases.
It's my first time.
But I'm in love with you.
Father, I've sinned...
I absolve you in the name of the Father, Son...
and Holy Ghost. Go in peace.
When you laugh, you're even prettier.
Salvatore, you're very sweet, and I like you very much...
but I don't love you.
- I don't care. I'll wait. - For what?
For you to fall in love with me.
Now, listen.
Every night, after work, I'll come stand...
outside your house and I'll wait. Every night.
When you change your mind, open your window. That's all.
- You understand now? - Yes... finally...
I see the light.
Next time, don't talk heresy.
You survived the theater fire, but from the Eternal Fire...
that is, Eternal Fire... no one can save you!
15 seconds to the New Year!
14... 13... 12... 11...
10... 9... 8...
7... 6... 5...
4... 3... 2... 1...
Oh, great! "Never been driven", he says.
How will we get home?
Oh, God, it's my father.
Hello, Mr. Mendola.
OUTDOOR MOVIES: TONIGHT AT THE IMPERIA.
Standing room only!
Come on in! The show just started.
Have your tickets ready!
Salvatore, my love... A whole summer...
with my family, far from you. My days here go on forever.
I see your name everywhere, in a book...
in a crossword puzzle, a newspaper...
you're always before my eyes. Today, alas, I have bad news.
In October we move to Palermo, where I'll go to the University.
So we won't see each other every day, but don't worry.
Whenever I can get away,
I'll come to you at the Paradise.
I'm blind!
By God's might,
by man's cunning! Rise up!
When will this rotten summer end?
In a film, it would already be over.
Fade-Out, cut to storm. Wouldn't that be great?
Tell them I am Ulysses!
- Elena! But, when? - Today.
You can't imagine the excuses I made up to come here.
I'm doing my military service in Rome. I leave Friday.
I'll come say goodbye to you. Thursday on the 5 p.m. bus.
The army made a mistake. Anyway, Rome is beautiful.
Load the reels for tomorrow,
ready for the new man.
Cheer up! I'll wait for you.
Don't worry. The job will be here.
I'll wait. You hear? Don't look so gloomy.
Come on! Hup!
Radioman Di Vita Salvatore, 3rd Battalion, 9th Company!
Transferred her father? No way!
And no one knows where?
Screw you if you won't tell me! Asshole son of a bitch!
ADDRESSEE UNKNOWN.
You're thinner. Put you through the wringer, eh?
They tell me you never go out and you never...
talk to anybody. Why?
You know how it is.
Sooner or later, the time comes...
Whether you talk or not, it's the same thing.
So you might as well shut up.
It's hot in here.
- Take me to the sea. - At a party,
a lieutenant pinches this girl's ass.
She turns around. It's the colonel's daughter.
Terrified, the Lieutenant says: "If your heart is as hard...
as what I just felt, I'm a dead man."
You haven't seen her?
No. And no one knows where she is.
That's probably how it was meant to be.
Each of us has a star to follow.
Get out of here. This land is cursed.
Living here day after day,
you think it's the center of the world.
You believe nothing will ever change.
Then you leave. A year or two. When you come back,
everything's changed. The thread's broken.
What you came to find isn't there.
What was yours is gone.
You have to go away for a long time, many years...
before you can come back and find your people...
the land... where you were born.
But now it's not possible.
Right now, you're blinder than I am.
Who said that? Gary Cooper, James Stewart, Henry Fonda?
No, Totò... nobody said it.
This time it's all mine.
Life isn't like in the movies.
Life... is much harder.
Get out of here. Go back to Rome.
You're young. The world is yours.
And I am old.
I don't want to hear you talk any more.
I want to hear others talk about you.
Don't come back.
Don't think about us. Don't look back, don't write!
Don't give in to nostalgia. Forget about us.
If you do come back, don't come see me.
I won't let you in my house. Understand?
Thank you, for everything you've done for me.
Whatever you end up doing, love it,
the way you loved the projection booth...
when you were a little squirt.
He's gone! Totò, goodbye!
I was too late. What a shame!
It's Totò. I knew it.
See how nice the house is?
We had it all redone. All thanks to you.
I have a surprise for you. Come.
Are you tired?
You have time to rest before the funeral.
No, mama. It's only an hour by plane.
Don't tell me that, after all these years.
Come, I put everything in here. All your things.
He must be glad you come, Totò.
He always talked about you.
Right up to the end.
He really loved you.
He left something for you.
Before you leave, come see me.
When did you close it down?
Six years ago in May. Nobody came any more.
You know better than I, Mr. Di Vita.
The economy, TV, videos.
The old movie business is just a memory.
The city bought the site for a parking lot.
They're demolishing it on Saturday. It's too bad.
What's this "Mr. Di Vita"? You used to order me around.
Now that you're a big shot, it's a little different.
But... if you insist... Totò.
Excuse me.
Who would've believed it? Little Totò.
This is what he left for you.
He never asked to see me?
No... never.
Once, your mother told him...
that if he wanted it, you'd surely come.
He was furious. He said: "No!
Totò must never come back to Giancaldo!"
He didn't say it to be mean. He was a good man.
Who knows what was going through his head?
Towards the end, he said strange things.
A moment before he closed his eyes...
he told your mother she mustn't let you know.
What are you thinking?
Just that... I've always been afraid to come back.
And now, after all these years, I thought I was stronger...
that I'd forgotten a lot of things.
But in fact, I find I'm right back where I was...
as if I'd never been away.
Yet, when I look around I don't recognize anyone.
And you, mama... I deserted you.
I ran out on you like a bandit, without any explanation.
I never asked for any. You don't have to explain to me.
I always thought it was good, what you did.
Why harp on it?
You were right to leave. You did what you wanted to do.
When I call you, a different woman always answers.
But I never hear love...
in their voices. I would've known.
All the same, I would have liked...
to see you... settled...
loving someone.
But your life is there. Here, there are only ghosts.
Let go, Totò.
It's my square! It's mine!
The square is mine!
Check the leader. Roll when you're ready.
Right. And I liked your film. Terrific.
Thanks.