Toto, the main character in the film "Cinema Paradiso?Eis a lost child who requires the support and guidance of a father, the one thing missing in his life. Growing up in Giancaldo offered him a broad prospective on life and the world around it. With the direction given to him by Alfredo, Toto was able to come out of his young adulthood with knowledge and wits he would have never learned without him. In the end, Alfredo wants Toto to leave Giancaldo in search of a "

But, for the most part, this hamfisted movie is very enjoyable. Despite his crowding of the film with familiar Italian-character cutouts (screaming parents, admonishing priests, masturbating boys and, yes, even a town idiot), screenwriter/director Tornatore gives these and other cliches an entertaining flow, a certain Mediterranean deliriousness. His excessive spirit is given appropriately sentimental swirl by scorer Ennio Morricone, and comely authority by cinematographer Blasco Giurato, who floods "Paradiso" with exquisite compositions.

The movies brought not only the world but the future to the bucolic town of Giancaldo, whose citizens jeered and wept, swooned and spooned, spat and smoked and picked their noses, drank Chianti and nursed their babies, married and even died at the Cinema Paradiso. Over the 40 or so years of the story, the theater itself undergoes many transitions, so the gently comic film not only celebrates but eulogizes the community and the picture show.

The absence of parental guidance in Toto?fs life has been a reoccurring theme throughout the film. While he goes to school all day, he spends his nights with Alfredo in the projection booth. Although Toto?fs mother is still alive she is unable to provide him with the male role model that every small boy needs. It is as if her soul died with the disappearance of her husband, Toto?fs father. Without someone to look up to, Toto, continually gets himself into trouble. This remains true in many families across the world, that without the ample support of both parents, many children find themselves lost.

It is near the end of World War II and Toto's father is missing somewhere on the Russian front. His mother, as free with a slap as with a hug, bars Toto from his beloved movie house when she finds he has again spent 50 lire, the milk money, on its grainy offerings. However, the resourceful imp manages to finagle an apprenticeship out of the sympathetic Alfredo, whose adages come mostly from the pens of Hollywood screenwriters.

Throughout the film, there are many scenes containing adult males that resemble Toto?fs lost father. Cinema Paradiso is telling us, the viewers, that the missing link is the fact that Toto?fs father is gone. A scene which caught my eye, is where Toto and his mother are returning from the building where the military was able to determine Toto?fs ?glost?h father dead. As they are walking back through the massive rubble created by war, Toto holds the had of his weeping mother. He looks over at a film poster advertising Gone with the Wind. This scene is important because the man in the poster resembles Toto?fs father. When Toto sees this man holding a woman in the poster he now realizes what an important piece of his life is now gone forever. He smiles knowing how much his mother and father both loved each other. With his mother crying up a storm, Toto finds it hard to feel remorse for a man he didn?ft know. Although he does realize what he meant to his mother, Toto?fs father now lives through Alfredo. This scene is also important because it shows a transition of moving on for both Toto and his

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2098
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)