Product Description
Malena (2000)(#ad)
Release date: October 27th, 2000
Malena is a 2000 Italian romantic drama directed and written by Giuseppe Tornatore, starring Monica Belluci and Giuseppe Sulfaro.
The movie runs for 91 minutes and is Rated R for its erotic scenes, language and violence with a box office collection of around $14.49 million.
The movie is basically about Renato (Giuseppe Sulfaro) , a 13-year-old boy from Sicily who meets Malena (Monica Belluci), a beautiful young war widow who was the source of obsession for the men and a source of envy for all the women.
It describes how Malena teaches Renato life’s lessons and how he finds himself in places he never imagined before.
Malena, is the story of an incredibly beautiful woman whose life takes a tragic twist as the movie progresses.
The film tries to transform this theme in various scenes of comedy, nostalgia and bittersweet regretful moments.
Renato, a naïve young kid who looks at Malena as some kind of an angel,tries to protect her in whatever way he can, that includes asking God to protect her from everyone.
He has various moments with Malena in his imagination but is only able to speak to her once when they are parting ways forever.
Plot
The movie features the beautiful Malena; a woman others can only imagine to be.
She worked as a teacher before her husband was called up by the army and she had to abandon her work and started dating German soldiers secretly.
However, Renato still thinks of her like a dream or a heroine even though she is reduced to wearing revealing clothes to please the German soldiers.
After Sicily is liberated by Americans in 1943, she is publicly beaten and humiliated by fellow women.
Malena flees the city and few days later her husband returns for her only to find out rumors about Malena and a letter from Renato explaining him not to believe such lies and that Malena loved him and only him.
In the last scene, it is seen how Renato finally manages to speak to Malena as he wishes her good luck on the beach.
Malena is definitely a must watch for all ages as it depicts beautifully the bravery of a woman during World War II and her eternal optimism that things will always get better with time.
It might have some violence and lot of erotic scenes but it is justified given the theme of the story.
Sometimes the story pretends to be something it is not meant to be but on the whole it is a good movie with wonderful casting and beautiful direction.
