We have flash backs to a six year old Salvatore which is a few years after the second world war. Life in Sicily isn't easy after the war, and Salvatore's father was killed in the war. It is at this point that he meets Alfredo. Alfredo runs the movie house in their village, initially the relationship is a little tense. But after a while the two of them form a father son type of relationship. Salvatore spends as much time as he can watching the movies that Alfredo is playing in his movie house.
Censorship rules were quite strict in this time, this meant that any romantic scenes such as kissing had to be cut from the movies. The towns people always let their feelings be known when the film skips these scenes. Salvatore wants to know how to operate all the equipment, and after a while Alfredo relents and teaches him.
Safety standards were also less than ideal during this time. During one movie, the movie house catches fire, Salvatore manages to save Alfredo, but not before Alfredo looses his sight when a film reel explodes. The movie house is rebuilt and Salvatore is hired as the new projectionist as he is the only person in town that knows how to operate the equipment.
Their relationship continues to strengthen over the years, and once Salvatore is of age he must complete his military service. It is at this point that Alfredo advises Salvatore to leave the town as it is too small and he would only be stifled, so Salvatore leaves for Rome to become a filmmaker.
At the funeral Alfredo's widow informs Salvatore that Alfredo left a film reel for him. After the funeral Salvatore watches the reel, only to discover that it was all of the romantic scenes that were cut out from the movies during the censorship period.
This movie has a nice story line, good acting and excellent cinematography. The film keeps things simple, there are no no expensive special effects, no gratuitous sex or violence, instead it relies a decent story told well.
