I thought the film was a bit too slow moving. I understood the storyline, but I felt like they could have added a few more things to make it more appealing. One of the benefits from watching the film, was that we got more insight on Pablo Neruda's character. We can also make some inference statements about the difference in class between Neruda and Mario. Il Postino is also a good example of a movie that shows different forms of love. It showed love for friends, love for one's country/family, and it even showed lustful love. It did this all whilst the characters were saying metaphors, adding to the theme of poetry.
Considering the colors of clothing worn by Neruda and Mario, you could tell that Neruda was more well off. His clothes were lighter, brighter, and he seemed to be cleaner. Mario on the other hand wore darker clothing and had a bit more messier look. Mario was a poor postman, whose only job was to deliver letters to one of the only literate men on the island, Pablo Neruda. He encountered and befriended Neruda, because of his frequent deliveries. I think that if Mario had not taken the job as the postman, he would never have had the chance to talk to Neruda. Since intermingling between social classes, was not acceptable in society during that time frame.
There were a couple different examples of love in this film. I think that Mario had great love for Neruda. He was taught how to write poems and use metaphors by Neruda, which is why Mario grew to have so much appreciation for him. “He treats me as if I am his brother.” said Mario in one of the scenes. Mario tried so hard to be like Neruda, so much so that his desires lead him to his death. I know Neruda felt guilty for influencing Mario as much as he did, I took that into account after seeing him get emotional while listening to Mario's recording. I believe, that he also felt guilty about not remaining in contact with Mario. People should understand, that after being exiled for so long, you have to go back and rebuild everything you once had. Which is probably what kept Neruda from writing to Mario. And people should also take into consideration that Neruda was a famous man. I'm pretty sure he had a whole bunch of other things to attend to. So, I think Neruda and Mario shared the same love as friends.
“Your laugh is a sudden silvery wave.” said Mario as he was reading poetry to Beatrice on the beach. The characters in the film used a lot of metaphors, which is probably why one of the themes is poetry. Pablo explained to Mario, that metaphors weren't complicated and that they were one of the beauties of language. “The sky starts weeping; what do you think that means?” asked Neruda. “It means that is raining.” said Mario.
