Ode to Mario Ruoppolo

Maria Elwan

Eng 440

October 15, 2012

Journal and Field Log 8 – Il Postino

The setting of the Film, Il Postino is Salina, Italy a small, very poor fishing village which has no fresh running water. The townspeople have been promised running water for many years by corrupt politicians. Election time comes around and the politicians flock to Salina and make their promises, after the elections the people are once again left to fend for themselves. Viewed from a Marxist lens, the film shows how these politicians exploit the working-class, townspeople both publicly and personally:

·         Making promises they know they won’t be able to keep.

·         Politicians personally trying to negotiate (haggle) for products the villagers are selling and offering a price that is much lower than what the politicians are actually able to afford., so in a sense, the villagers are being cheated out of their livelihood.

Pablo Neruda is a world-renown poet. His Marxist leanings have ostracized him and forced him to go into exile from his beloved Chile and take refuge in Salina. Here Neruda faces the alienation of being forced to be away from his homeland and friends, all the things that are dearest to him and bring him inspiration. But he also comes face to face with the social conditions that strengthen his Marxist ideologies.

Neruda’s path crosses with Mario Ruoppolo, a sweet, simple Italian who is given a job as a letter carrier by a local Postmaster who is a big fan of Neruda’s and also has communistic leanings. Ruoppolo is a young man with a sensitive nature who is not cut out to be a fisherman like his father. The mailman although semi-illiterate has more of a poetic inclination, but he is also painstakingly shy. Neruda is sensitive to the plight of the local people and takes a liking to Ruoppolo. He begins to mentor him through poetry and metaphors to help Ruoppolo win the heart of his beloved.

Ruoppolo has plenty of time on his hands because this is 1940’s Italy. The country has just come out of being on the wrong side of history in World War II and is facing extreme poverty and unemployment. Mario’s prospects are limited, so he accepts the only job he can find, a very lowing paying job as a letter carrier who only has 1 person to deliver to—Pablo Neruda.  

Il Postino illustrates Berger’s point that according to Marxist theory “the base (mode of production or economic system) shapes the superstructure (the institutions in that society such as the church)”(42). The local politicians make up the base that shapes the superstructure (the Catholic Church). Italians are traditionally devout Catholics. So in this case the townspeople are conditioned to accept their situation and instead of organizing and demanding running water, they simply pray for it.

            The film also illustrates how pervasive metaphors are in all cultures. Even Mario who is an uneducated fisherman’s son discovers the way to express the sentiments he previously had no words for. It is then through metaphor that the shy Mario Ruoppolo finally finds his voice and with the help of Neruda, Mario metaphorically wins the heart of his beloved. But in a twist of fate the Marxist realities of the day come into play because the audience loses their hero, Mario, when he is fatally wounded participating in street protests for workers’ rights.