The Postman

In 1952, exiled Chilean dissident and poet Pablo Neruda traveled to Europe, where a nervous, deeply anti-Marxist Italian government tried to kick him out, eventually depositing him on the isle of Capri. That a famous Communist should have found himself living in a rich man's villa, learning about life from the "simplest people in the world," is the arch conceit underlying this finely wrought film.

Massimo Troisi plays Mario Ruoppolo, a listless fellow who lives with his father in a tiny fishing village. Mario has never liked fishing, and at his father's urging he finally finds a job as a postman, working for the district's Postmaster (Renato Scarpa), a Marxist...