Malèna

google image, i just love it so much haha

Director: Giuseppe Tornatore. (2000) Starring the beautiful Monica Bellucci!

Wow... Well.. where to begin with THIS one. AMAZING FILM.

Sorry, but I might give too much away in this post!

Set in the 1940's in Sicily during WWII. Imagine as religious as Italy & Sicily, combined with the very reserved time era. Monica plays Malèna who moves with her new husband (Nino) back to his town Castelcuto (Along with her deaf father). Shortly after her husband is called to War. The towns' women resent her! The men all desire her, including a young boy named Renato. This Renato follows Malèna through her struggles in the village & suffers along with her... 

She cannot find a job because the people refuse to hire her, The women at the markets give her the worst food out of jealousy and spite, and they all see her beauty as something evil and as breathtaking as she is... They secretly fear her and spread rumors behind her back. These rumors lead up to her own father shunning her. All the while, she has remained faithful to her husband up until learning of his death in the war. 

She resorts to prostitution to earn money to eat and pay off a lawyer fee (Thanks to a hideous woman's uncontrollable husband who stalks Malèna; and the wife takes Malèna to court). Renato prays for Malèna protection from the town but all fails. 

In the beginning you notice an elegance and humbleness to Malèna, as she walks the village with her eyes to the ground. It's almost as if she gets fed up with the rumors and lies and becomes what all the townspeople say her to be, a whore. 

FAST FORWARD A BIT

The War ends and son of a @#$%! ... the women go nuts and brutally drag Malèna out on the streets and beat her publicly, shouting vulgar and derogatory terms. She then leaves the town for Messina. 

Low and behold, Nino ends up returning to the village some odd years later to NOT find his wife or her father. Of course, these townspeople have nothing but negative things to say about Malèna but a note from Renato instructs Nino on a train to Messina to rescue his wife. My favorite scene is when Nino returns to Castelcuto with Malèna and they stroll down the avenue arms entwined. The looks on the townspeople's faces are PRICELESS. 

The ending has a very touching moment between Renato & Malèna but I will leave that to you to see! :) If you still desire to, since I just told you the whole movie, basically haha.

 Now Rotten Tomatoes gave this like a 55% "fresh" rating, whatever the #!$% that is. The concept of a woman getting shunned and harassed for her beauty isn't exactly original but in Giuseppes defense, he did an incredible job! 

This happens all the time and still happens now in the modern day. A women's kindness being taken as romance or affection. A simple date between two people turns into rumors of sex. It's happened to me, and maybe that is where I could relate to this, and feel the main characters turmoil.

You know, I read a review on another site and someone commented this. Now, I'm not too knowledgable in war and politics and history at that matter... The perspective is notable. The person explained the underlying message really well... 

Malena, short for Maddalena, represents Italy. The men represent the lust for power, the rise of Mussolini. The women are the people of Italy. Malena suffers the same struggles Italy faced in WWII. She has no choice but to succumb to prostitution, hence her name, as did Mussolini when he sold himself to Hitler in the war. The scene in the square where Malena is beaten up by the women, symbolizes the Italian government not owning up to their actions after the war, as many officials were still in power. The wives should have gone after their husbands, but instead Malena took the blame. In the end, although Malena has some wrinkles and gains a little weight, she is still beautiful, as was Italy even after the war. Eventually, the women forgive her, as the European countries had to forgive Italy.

from http://www.beyondhollywood.com/malena-2000-movie-review/

I know I summarized a lot but I hope it sparked your interest to find the rest of the juicy details of the movie yourself -- which I recommend you do. All in all, beautiful scenery and Renato and Malèna really steal your heart. Watch it!!!!