In a way, "Malena" kept reminding us of a famous photograph by Ruth Orkin, in which a young American woman is seen walking alone in an Italian street where there must be at least twenty men ogling this beautiful beautiful creature in different degrees of desire, shouting things about what they would love to do with her.

In Giuseppe Tornatore's "Malena", the young woman at the center of the story, suffers that kind of sexual predatory practice from all the men in the little town in Sicily where she lives. It appears Italian men, then, as well as now, can express anything at all, especially for their big friends' benefit, their opinions of how they feel about a woman. Even the town's ladies have no qualms in shouting nasty things as Malena passes them by.

If you haven't seen the film, perhaps you would like to stop reading.

The film takes place during the last days of WWII. Malena's husband has gone to war, but he never returns. She is left to fend for herself under the most extreme circumstances. In order to make ends meet, all the men in town offer Malena anything so they can get favors from her in return.

Watching all this is Renato, a young man who has reached puberty and is completely taken by Malena's beauty. Renato follows this woman all over the town. Whenever Malena is coming into view, Renato abandons his bicycle and makes a point to pass near this gorgeous creature almost breathing her aura.

A lot of people in this forum have expressed their views in making "Malena" a coming of age film. But contrary to what they might take, Mr. Tornatore, its director, like most film makers in Europe are influenced by the politics and the history of their country. In here, it appears that Malena stands for the way Italy was manipulated by Mussolini in transforming the country into a fascist paradise. Also Malena, like Italy, is turned into a prostitute in the eyes of many Italians, who watched their beloved country invaded by the Germans, who were supposed to be their allies.

"Malena" is a film that is blessed by the presence of that amazingly beautiful actress Monica Belucci. Ms. Belucci is perfect for the title role and runs away with the film. In one of the most hear wrenching scenes in this movie, we watch in horror as the other women in town have their revenge in punishing Malena for what they perceive are her sins and her collaboration with the enemy.

Young Giuseppe Sulfaro is seen as the appealing Renato Amoroso, the young man awakening to his own sexuality. He lives just to spy on the woman that has captured his imagination, and even in his solitary gratification she plays a large role in his vivid imagination.

"Malena" owes a lot to Giuseppe Tornatore for what he has been able to accomplish.

Sicily, 1940. A teenage boy (Giuseppe Sulfaro) is initiated into manhood when his friends introduce him to the glories of Malena (Monica Belluci),the most beautiful woman in town. Sulfaro becomes obsessed, following her wherever she goes on his bike, and he even spies on her in her home. His obsession is not the only one, as much as he wishes and wants to believe it were - the whole town worships her. Every man wants to have her, and every woman is deeply jealous of that fact. And, man, does that make life hard for Malena - her husband is fighting the war in Africa, and the rumors are flying, making life nearly impossible. Sulfaro might see her as a sex object initially, but the more he observes the more he sympathizes. This film begins as an enjoyable comedy, but it grows deeply serious. The climax is one of the harshest, most potent sequences I've seen in a long while. One will recognize the nostalgic tone of the movie if you're familiar with Cinema Paradiso, but I think this is actually a stronger film. Excellent.

This is an Italian coming of age film about a young man who was entering his teen years when WWII began. In some ways it reminds me of a combination of AMARCORD and THE SUMMER OF '42--as at least in the beginning, the film focused on ordinary small town folk during the war (like in AMARCORD) and a bunch of very horny boys (like SUMMER OF '42). The problem is that while the film began well, it seems to have lost its focus and charm. While WWII isn't exactly a "charming" period, the likability of ANYONE in the film was a problem. The townspeople turned out to be quite vile and the leading character seemed to have some serious sexual hangups (such as voyeurism and fetishism)--plus he spent so much time masturbating. Now they didn't show masturbation explicitly, but the little goomer was clearly playing with himself again and again with great gusto! In hindsight, I would have dropped all the sexual hangups the kid had because it tended to deflect the focus in the film. The film was at its best when it showed human nature, as the townspeople gossiped about and mistreated a decent lady just because she was so beautiful. Then, when she was apparently widowed and broke with no one to help her, she slept with the Nazi occupiers to survive. This and the peoples' reaction to this after the war was really fascinating but unfortunately so much time was spent on this horny kid that the significance of the rest of the film was lost.

Oh, and if you want good parenting advice, just look to the boy's father. To cure his chronic masturbation and wearing the lady's stolen underwear on his head while he slept, his father took him to a prostitute. Now THAT'S something I don't remember reading in Dr. Spock!!