101 GIANCALDO. MAIN STREET AND SQUARE. EXT.DAY
222
...the coffin where his old blind friend rests for ever. The funeral procession winds its way down the main street. At the intersections, , cars stop to let the black hearse pass by. People cross themselves. The old men remove their hats. Store shutters are lowered. Then, when the procession has passed by, the cars start up again, the old men put their hats back on, the shutters are pulled up. SALVATORE is in the front row with his MOTHER, next to ALFREDO’S WIDOW. SIGNORA ANNA says in a whisper, her eyes fixed on the coffin. ANNA He would have been happy you came, Toto. He always talked about you. Always! Right to the end! He was terribly fond of you... (Tears come to her, she is unable to say any more. SALVATORE gives her a hug, deeply touched by her words.) He left two things for you. Come see me before you leave. SALVATORE nods his head. He gazes intensely at the coffin covered with flowers and is grieved as if he were ashamed never to have come to see the man who had been like a father to him. But why had he forgotten him? Up in front, leading the procession, he sees a young PRIEST with an altar boy beside him, and these figures are also like chisels scraping the rust off his soul and bringing old feelings to light again. The procession reaches the square. The dark column stands etched in the dazzling early-afternoon light. SIGNORA ANNA motions the driver and the procession comes to a halt. It is ALFREDO’S last farewell to the place where he had spent the best years of his life the Cinema Paradiso. Everyone turns to look and SALVATORE also turns, taken by surprise...It has fallen to pieces: doors and windows boarded shut, crumbling walls, a piece of the sign dangling down, weeds and mildew in the cracks and on the roof. The square has changed completely, is unrecognizable. Buildings, stores, sign boards and lines of cars creeping at a snail’s pace in a deafening chorus of honking horns. And the central square has turned motorcycles. SALVATORE turns slowly to look behind him, towards the small crowd, and is entranced by the unexpected sight of faces that he recognizes at once, despite the many years that have gone by: the MAN AT THE BOX OFFICE, the USHER who also served as bill-poster, the CHARWOMAN, the CARABINIERE SERGEANT, and further on behind