you must not come here! how many times do i have to tell you? if the film catches fire, runt that you are, you'd go up in a burst of flame. whoosh! and turn into a piece of.
christ, that's a sassy little tongue you've got! watch out, or someday i'll snip it off.
no!!! are you deaf or something? i've got to put this back in when we wind up the film again! you're a real pain in the neck!
'cause sometimes you can't find the right place any more and so. well, actually. they stay here. besides, there are more kisses than you can count.
look, toto! before i kick your ass all the way to china and back, let's make a deal. these strips here are yours, i give them to you. however! one you're not to stick your nose in here any more. two i'll keep them for you, because you can't take them home for god forbid and save our souls, if they catch fire, all hell will break loose! ok? oh!!! and now scram!
get out!! and don't show your face here again!
what are you doing here?
signora maria, don't do that. he's just a kid. and why are you telling fibs? we let him in free. he must have lost the money inside the movie theatre.  how much did you have?
what you find tonight on the floor between the seats?
and fifty lire! see?
good morning, father. it's hard on the feet, huh?
of course i knew your father. he was tall, thin, pleasant, and had a moustache like mine. always smiling. he looked like clark gable.
'i choose my friends for their looks, and my enemies for their brains' you're too smart to be my friend. besides, as i always tell my kids, be careful to pick the right friends!
all right, all right! when i've got kids that's what i'm telling them!
but. what's it got to do with me?.
i give you my word, donna maria.
give it to me!.
toto, come here.
now listen to what i've got to say. i took up this profession when i was ten years old. in those days there weren't these modern machines. the films were silent. the projectors were run by hand, like this, with a crank. and you wound the crank all day long. it was really rough going! if you got tired and slowed down' boom! everything would go up in flames!
because i don't want to, toto! this is not a job for you. it's like being a slave. you're always alone. you see the same film over and over again, because you have nothing else to do. and you start talking to greta garbo and tyrone power like a nut! you work on holidays, on christmas, on easter. only on good friday are you free. but if they hadn't put jesus christ on a cross. you'd work good fridays too!
because i'm an idiot. how many other guys in town know how to be a projectionist? none! only a jerk like me could do it. besides i wasn't lucky. when i was a kid there was the war! when i grew up, another war! now it's all different. times have changed. and you want to be a dope like me? huh? answer me!
good for you, toto. good for you.  i'm only saying this for your own good.  cooped up in here you die of heat in the summer and of cold in the winter. you breathe in smoke, gas fumes, and earn practically nothing.
with time. you get used to it. besides, when you hear from up here that there's a full house and that people are laughing, having fun.  then you're happy too. so i've been wasting my breath? you pretend to agree with me, but as soon as my back is turned, you do what you want! get out of here! i don't want to lay eyes on you again! this is the last straw! your mother's right, you're crazy!! but how'd he do it? the little bastard! by watching, he's learned! it's incredible! i'm letting the box office know you're not to set foot even into the theatre! there are no more tickets for you! and i'm also talking to father adelfio! you won't be an altar boy any more either!!! you little runt!
you jerk. tell me how to solve this fucking problem!
pay attention. this is where it can easily catch fire. if it happens, the first thing you've got to do is break it off, here and here, so the whole reel doesn't go up in fames.
you understand which side the gelatin's on?
these are the shipping invoices for the film. they are always to be kept. you see?
now you can run it by yourself.
who knows?. it's like an adventure. hope springs eternal.
it's got to be sent to another town. and if we don't the owner of that movie house gets pissed off.
'joe! a mob doesn't think, doesn't know what it's doing' spencer tracy said it in fury. what'd you say if we let these poor devils see the film, toto?
you don't believe my words, but you'll have to believe your own eyes!. and now get your ass off that damn stool, boy!
go to the window, boy, and have a look.
what do you say, should we make them happy?
do you want to go down there? go on.
any room for me in this cinema paradiso?
how's school?
don't do that. sooner or later you'll be left empty-handed.
toto, this isn't for you. for the moment, the cinema paradiso needs you, and you need the cinema paradiso. but it won't last. some day you'll have other things to do, more important things.  that's right, more important. i know it. now that i've lost my sight i see more. i see everything i didn't see before.  and it's all thanks to you, who saved my life. and i'll never forget it.  and don't put on that look. i haven't gone off my head yet. you want proof?
for example, at this moment the film's out of focus. go see.
it's hard to explain, toto.
progress! it always arrives too late!
chaplin's modern times! right, toto?
i've shown it so many times i know it by heart. the first time i showed it, in 1940, was the sunday my first wife died. they kept it hidden from me all day so they wouldn't have to close down the movie house. i only found out that night, after the last show. those are things you never forget.  so, toto, how are these home movies going?
what is it, what is it? what's the picture?
now what can you see?
is there a woman?. tell me the truth.  there is a woman.
what's she like? what's she like?.
eh! love. what a mystery! i understand you, toto. the ones with blue eyes are the most beautiful. whatever you do, you can't make friends with them. eh, there's nothing to be done about it! the heavier a man is, the deeper his footprints. and if he's in love, he suffers, because he knows he's up a one-way street. because love is a meaningless thing when a man gets it into his head to do what he wants.
they're not my words. john wayne said it in shepherd of the hills.
i told you, the blue-eyed ones are the most difficult.
don't think about it, toto. don't even try. with feelings, there's nothing to understand.
heeey! totooooo! don't get pissed off with me now! come here! i don't know where the fuck i have to go. and the next time be careful how you talk. not to take credit away from the lord, but if i had created the world, in all modesty, certain things would have come out better. but unfortunately such was not the case.
i want to make you happy, toto! i'm going to tell you a story. once upon a time a king gave a feast and there were all the most beautiful princesses of the realm. basta, one of the guards, saw the king's daughter: she was the loveliest of all! and he immediately fell in love with her. but what could a poor soldier do compared with a king's daughter?!. one day he managed to meet her and told her he couldn't live without her. the princess was so struck by the depth of his feeling that she said to the soldier 'if you will wait a hundred days and a hundred nights beneath my balcony, then in the end i'll be yours.' christ, the soldier ran off there and waited! one day, two days, ten, twenty. every night she looked out of her window, but he never budged. come rain, wind, snow, never budged! the birds shat on him and the bees ate him alive! after ninety nights he was gaunt and pale and tears streamed from his eyes but he couldn't hold them back. he didn't even have the strength to sleep any more. the princess kept watch. and on the ninety-ninth night, the soldier got up, picked up his chair and left!
that's right, toto, right at the end? and don't ask me what it means. if you figure it out, let me know.
father adelfio, i have a very serious doubt that is torturing my soul. and you've got to help me, because i've lost all peace of mind.
i know. but take the-miracle of the loaves and fishes, for example! i think about it a lot. how is it possible for.
oh yes, father. now everything's clear.
he had to do something for me.
there's nothing to worry about. he's probably with his friends. let's toast!
toto, are you pulling my leg or something? how is it possible to see this television without film?
could be. but i don't like this business. it smells fishy to me.
what is it?
you weren't expecting me?
you were expecting her? huh? . it's a nasty business waiting by yourself. in company it's better. no?. then i'll leave.
totooooo! totooooo!
but where'd you go, toto?!!
no, nobody came.
you 're thinner. you can tell you've not been treated well. .
toto, sooner or later there comes a time when talking or keeping quiet is the same thing. so it's better to shut up. it's hot in here. toto, take me to the beach.
did you ever see her again?
it was probably meant to be like this. each of us has a star to follow. so now what are you thinking of doing?
do like the soldier, toto! go away! this land is cursed. when you're here every day you feel like you're at the center of the universe, it seems like nothing ever changes. then you go away, one year, two. and when you come back, everything's different. the thread has broken. you don't find those you were looking for, your things no longer exist. isn't that the case?. you've got to go away a long time, for many, many years, before coming back and finding your people again, the land where you were born. but not now, it's impossible. now you're blinder than i am.
no, toto, nobody said it. i say it! life's not like you saw it in the movies. life. is harder. get out! go back to rome. you 're young, the world is yours! and i'm old. i don't want to hear you talk any more, i want to hear talk about you.
don't come back any more, don't think about us, don't turn round, don't write, don't give in to nostalgia. forget us all. if you can't hear it and come back, don't come looking for me, i won't let you into the house, you understand?
whatever you do, love it like you loved that projection booth of the paradiso when you were little.
easy, easy. listen carefully to what i have to say. if you want me to tell toto what you've told me, i will. but if you want my advice, forget it. it's better for both of you if you don't see each other.  dear girl, fire always turns into ashes! even the deepest love ends sooner or later. and after that other loves appear, lots of them. toto, he can't understand fiat now. if i tell him he won't believe it, he' d be capable of killing me. but you can understand, you've got to understand. do it for him!