First time i saw Malena on TV with a lot of censorship indeed. The second time i watch in a movie club in Jakarta. This time i saw without any cuts of it. Monica Bellucci is the center of this movie. Her body was potentially mark up the values of the whole story. The boy is a symbolic of a man's world. War makes all of cast, exclude Malena, becoming insane. Malena is a victim of man's desire. Every man from all race who fights each other just to be a war champion. And the trophy was Malena. Everything's recorded on Renato's mind, Malena's stalker.But war is over and she finally find her husband and leave the town to build a new family's life. Tornatore is a great director, Monica Bellucci makes him.

We grow up on dreams and then dream to grow.Before reviewing this film I would share my personal account related to this. In college, adolescent movies, porn used to be discussed and when I was in one such discussion a friend told that he was fascinated by this movie. I downloaded it and privately watched it alone expecting this to be a very evocative and a sexual movie. Now it was all to my surprise, it turned out differently. A week later, I showed this movie to my friend Raghuveer. Initially, he was interested in nude scenes (coz I got to know of this only through him) but once the film began, we both completed it. And after a week when I called him to know what he was doing, he just said, he was dreaming and thinking only of Malena. That was the impact. I got back to this 2 years later while in job but the reaction was the same by my other friend. Now today when I watched it, I was again satisfied coz this is one of the most compelling stories that stood out in time.Hmm, to review this movie is a tough job for me coz it's difficult to judge what you love the most. I love Monica Bellucci thoroughly in the movie and while younger, fantasized about her the same way Renato did in the movie. It's a story of how cruel beauty is to self and how beautiful it is to the eyes of the beholder. Malena's only curse is she is beautiful in a village filled of demons. It is one of the most simple stories told and still it kept me going because the way camera works and each scene be it an adolescent or a court room fight, or even a dream sequence just made me feel something if at times happy then at times sad and in fact very angry. So each scene did move me, they touched me for sure and that's where the writing of the screenplay is a winner. Mind you, it is based on a short story and this can be anywhere and at anytime. Though based on world war 2 in Italy, the theme is universal, it's of abuse and how beauty is used.A kid has a dream but is still helpless and most adults are powerful but devoid of compassion. While in movies, nudity comes as an X factor or for publicity it is very precisely used here to take the story forward and rather substantiate the theme. The music by Ennio Morricone grips you and empathizes with the characters emotions be it a chase on a cycle or a song La Amore, they are very aptly placed and used. The way camera moves tells you what the whole village is talking and what each character is about. The art direction takes you back to the time of world war 2. So everything is done well but acting by Giuseppe Sulfaro (son of the director Giuseppe Tornatore) is terrific. I think, since the director could not romance Monica, he let his son do just like a scene where the father takes the son to brothel when he realizes his son has grown up. And Monica is quite a revelation with silence she spoke a lot.Spare the nudity please, if that was not there this could just be another story.Thank you Tornatore for such a compelling film and thank you for showing Monica Bellucci as the ultimate beauty whom every man should crave for.It's 4/5 for this one. Many may not like it but I will go with Malena any day.

I bet the director would say this film was about 'requited love' or 'a young boy's ascent into manhood.' I would describe it as 'A kind of collective madness afflicting a small Italian town during the latter stages of WWII'. I mean, this woman can't even walk down the street without people from both sexes staring at her and following her every move as if she was some kind of Goddess. Yes, she's pretty. But having that kind of effect on ALL the residents? So that they'd just stop what they were doing and act completely goofy? Wasn't there any gay men around then? What's even worse, she seems completely oblivious to it. Despite having hundreds of pairs of eyes on her, she never once looks left or right, acknowledging them at all. Besides, beauty is only skin deep. On the rare occasions she does speak, she doesn't seem the sharpest tool in the drawer. Taking all factors into consideration, perhaps the wolves who lust after her could (whisper it) do better?These events are witnessed through the eyes of a 12 year old, who despite all the attention lavished on her, declares himself as her greatest fan. And when he discovers she's lost her husband in the war, he declares to have her when he 'comes of age' in four years... and that means, punishing her detractors and following her everywhere, even to the extent of spying on her at night through a peephole at her house. Don't these kid's parents realise he's missing every evening? He keeps up this charade while she sleeps around, before finally becoming a prostitute in the service of the Germans. Meanwhile, he has his own adventures, including an accusation of being possessed by the devil which some nuns 'cure' him of. I'm not sure about that, but there's definitely SOMETHING wrong with him. And the rest of the province, come to think of it.Well acted and very funny in places, it's still hard to get round the initial idea... that Malena is so beautiful there is nothing else to think or talk about when she's around. This is such a far-fetched ideal it did affect my enjoyment of the film, to the extent I wanted to confront the characters and tell them to get a life. And how can someone be so blind as to not notice that you're being stalked and harassed by pretty much everyone? Either that, or she's the best ignorer ever. Regardless, there is pleasure to be derived from the film, as long as you're willing to accept the ridiculous behaviour of all concerned. Those crazy Italians... 6/10

Malèna Scordia shown as an object of desire for men and an object to envy for women. Set in 1940, the movie deals with the story of 27 year old beautiful widow in an Italian village. From the eyes of Renato, a 12 year old, Malèna arouses sensual feelings (quite normal as the other kids in the neighborhood) and I admire the way the director shows it in a series of scenes. The way the boy's father beats and scolds deserves laugh and applause. IMO, I feel that the director pushed way too hard abusing the character (Malèna) almost every other scene and it makes the viewers feel that the village women ain't got other work than abusing the poor widow. The level of sentiment quotient in this work makes it one short of being 'Irresistible', yet Monica Bellucci looks Irresistible in the scene where she is dressed as the Holy Mother