“Going to the movies always felt like something sacred.” That is how I opened my first Catholic Movie Club column back in June 2023. I realize it is obnoxious to quote yourself, but this is my 100th column and I am feeling a little retrospective. That insight also perfectly sums up this week’s movie: “Cinema Paradiso” (1988), written and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore. Inspired (very loosely) by his childhood and filmed in his hometown of Bagheria, Italy, Tornatore’s film was a passion project with a troubled production.
It went on to win the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best International Feature, and now enjoys a reputation as one of the greatest movies of all time. It also marked Tornatore’s first collaboration with famed composer Ennio Morricone, whose score is as sweeping and romantic as the film itself.
