A sweet, gentle film about a quiet postman who discovers the power of poetry in winning the heart of his true love.

Massimo Troisi gives a warm, wonderful performance as said postman, while Phillipe Noiret plays the poet Pablo Neruda. The setting, a sleepy Italian village, gives the film a cozy atmosphere, and it's got a lovely score to match.

One of the rare foreign-language films to be nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award, it lost to the thunderingly stupid "Braveheart." Mel Gibson could use a little poetry himself.

Grade: A

The subtext of Pablo Neruda's (Philippe Noiret) Communism was brought up a distractingly excessive number of times in the movie, and wasn't even necessary to tell the story, except that it was the reason for Neruda's exile. His romantic views of Communism obviously looked askance at the dehumanizing effect the ideology has which promotes subservience to a governmental authority. There's no poetry in that to my mind, but somehow he got many believers to hear his message.

Other than that, this is a gentle story that reveals a developing relationship between Neruda and his dedicated postman Mario Ruoppolo (Massimo Troisi) on an Italian island. I liked the way their friendship evolved over the course of the story, and how Mario came to be a lover of poetry. So much so that he asks for Neruda's help in writing a poem that would win him the heart of a pretty waitress in town. Though it didn't appear that the lovely Beatrice (Maria Grazia Cucinotta) had any other romantic prospects available, I personally didn't quite understand the connection she felt for Mario. Obviously uneducated with a limited grasp of reading and writing, Mario didn't have much to offer Beatrice in the way of comfort and security. However once he proclaimed that her smile spread like a butterfly, she was a goner. I hate to be cynical, but I think it would have taken more than that to close the deal with someone of Beatrice's bearing and Mario's lack of.

There's a disturbing sense of closure to the story when it's revealed that Mario died shortly before the birth of his son, with Neruda gone and Beatrice raising their young boy alone. Mario was never able to reconcile with the loss of his friend, who returned to his home country of Chile when an arrest warrant against him was revoked. It's strongly suggested that Mario died at the hands of authorities while protesting his pro-Communist leanings at a demonstration that got out of hand. For such a tragic ending, no metaphors are sufficient.

What a gentle, unassuming movie. When Pablo Neruda arrives on the island, exiled from his native Chile due to his political beliefs, he is a mysterious figure. Women love his work and send him mail by the bushel basket. The principle character has the job of bringing the mail to the hinterland and eventually begins a relationship with the great poet. The postman is a very simple man who really should be ignored or tolerated by Neruda. Instead, the man who loves poetry instills that love in this man who mumbles and stumbles with his words. Eventually they find themselves discussing deeper issues and the Postman begins to realize an intellectual potential. There is a comment later in the movie about ignorant people. He would never have made such a comment early on because of his own self doubts. He at first sees poetry as a way to get girls but later comes to know that he is himself a poet. I loved the wonderful acting and the gentle yet powerful nature of this film.