This is a funny, heart-warming and endearing story. "Il Postino: The Postman" is based on a 1985 novel, "Ardent Patience," by Antonio Skarmeta. The book is a fictional story set in a small fishing village on the Isle of Capri. It takes places during a period in 1952 during which Pablo Neruda was a resident of the village. Neruda was a Chilean poet and communist politician traveling Europe and Asia and living in exile. The house he lived in on Capri was owned by Italian historian Edwin Cerio. The setting and scenery in this film are exquisite. It's an Italian-made movie that has something of an international cast and crew. English director and screenwriter Michael Radford directed the film. All of the cast are superb. The leading male star is Italian comedian and actor Massimo Troisi as the postman, Mario Ruoppolo. The leading male co-star is French actor Philippe Noiret who plays Pablo Neruda. Noiret has a striking physical resemblance to Neruda. Italian Maria Cucinotta plays the main female lead, Beatrice Russo. Anna Bonaiuto plays Matilde. The movie implies that she is Neruda's wife, but in real life at that time, she was his mistress. Neruda's wife was still in Chile where she tried, successfully, to have the arrest warrant against her husband lifted. Matilde would become Neruda's third wife a few years later. The film was released in Italy in September 1994, and in the U.S. in a limited release of June 1995, and then general release in March 1996. It was nominated for five Academy Awards in 1996, including Best Picture, and won the Oscar for Best Music in an original dramatic score. Troisi, who had suffered with heart problems since childhood, died the day after the filming was finished. He was just 41 years old. He received posthumous nominations for Academy Awards as best actor and for best writing based on a previous publication. The main plot of the story is a simple one, in which the hero asks the poet to sign a book so that he can impress the girls in Naples. That soon narrows to wanting to learn to be a poet so that he can woo the girl he loves in the village. A couple of subplots are involved, and the two men soon become friends, like father and son, teacher and pupil. Some of the political life of the time and place enter the picture, and Neruda's communism is something that Mario embraces as well. A documentary short came with my DVD of this film. It has more background on the movie and on the poetry and life of Neruda. Other reviews describe more of the plot. All the sources seem just to touch the edge of Neruda's communism, which was as important to him as was his poetry. Since they give very little on his political background, I thought some viewers might find that interesting. Neruda was writing poetry at the age of 10 and his first book was published when he was just 20 years old, in 1924. "20 Poems of Love and a Song of Despair" established him as romantic poet whose popularity soon spread beyond the realm of Spanish literature. His many other works were about objects, nature and politics, but his largest following was among women and those who enjoyed romantic literature. He soon became an ardent communist and a literary and public speaking champion of communism. He held diplomatic positions for Chile, and served in the Chilean Senate. In 1971, he received the Nobel Prize for Literature. Neruda was no fan of democracies and he wasn't popular among nations with governments founded as republics. He had praised the Stalin dictatorship of the Soviet Union. He supported the Cuban revolution under Fidel Castro. After Che Guevara, the communist terrorist and guerrilla leader was killed in Bolivia in 1967, Neruda wrote articles that praised him for a life of heroism. And, he loudly denounced the U. S. during the October 1962 Cuban missile crisis Of course, of these, only Stalin's dictatorship had happened before the 1952 setting on Capri that this film is about. Still, one would have to wonder how Neruda (and many others) could turn a blind eye to the great depression of 1932-33 in the Soviet Union. Stalin created it to wipe out the peasantry of the Ukraine, and it claimed about nine million lives. But, with the desire of the filmmakers to celebrate poetry with this romantic story, it's understandable that the producers wanted to keep this on a lighter plain. There is a sad note toward the end, but this is a movie that most people should enjoy. Youth audiences of today should be alerted to expect a slower pace than what they have become used to. Here are a couple of my favorite lines from this film. Mario, "Poetry does not belong to those who write it, but to those who need it."Postmaster (Orazio Stracuzzi), "Even the women are interested in politics in Chile."Mario, "I'll only ask him to sign this book. That's all, so when I get paid I'll go to Naples and show all the girls that I'm a friend of Neruda, the poet of love." Postmaster, "The poet of the people."

his performance is essence of this adorable film. his character is so careful created that its fragility, humor, innocence, light of details are magnificent. he don't play a role but he is "il postino" . and this fact transforms entire scene. the story of Neruda exile is only arena for emotions of a small man on an Italian isle. the beautiful Beatrice is brick for his delicate happiness. Neruda himself is not exactly a mentor but a gardener. and the music, the extraordinary music, it is the soul of entire poetry. because a poetry is this movie who has as roots poems. very delicate, nice, nostalgic, melancholic, subtle, intelligent, precise, it is wonderful homage to a way to discover life as fundamental miracle. to feel the nuances of love, friendship, to be humble, modest and daring in same time, to feel gratitude as form of respiration. beautiful and impressive. touching. and unique. story of a postman. legacy of Massimo Troisi.

I found this rather superficial and mundane. It's about the friendship between a worker – a postman - and a poet – Pablo Neruda. The poet awakens the young man's sensibilities and gives him the courage to pursue the village beauty. This is a tiny village - so why he had not realized her beauty before, and more so, why she was not being pursued by an entire flock of young men raised a question mark.The characters are all stereo-typed – the shy postman, the over-wordy poet and the village beauty with her raspy aunt. Everything was a caricature and the film suffered from a lack of passion, intensity…I couldn't buy into it.

I love these kinds of stories. Poetic in nature and heartfelt. This is a very touching love story. THe soundtrack combined with the poetic way the film moves along and the narration all come together wonderfully. The director, Michael Radford did a superb job of mixing the guy girl relationship and the guy guy relationship evenly. And what beautiful cinematography. It's not often that I say this, but I wish that it went on just a little longer. Maybe because I loved the soundtrack so much! I only wish that more movies were able to be made like this in the U.S. I really do think that there is an audience out there for this. I love independent movies. I'm new to the IMDb and look forward to catching new projects all the time.