The Teacher and the Miracle

This "El Maestro" or "The Teacher and the Miracle" (1957), all starred , directed and co-written by Aldo Fabrizi . A sensitive and enjoyable film in the Fifties wake , it's why it deals with a grieving schoolmaster and resulting to be a fine film with good feeling and an enjoyable religious message . A widower teacher named Giovanni (beloved, hugely popular Italian comic character actor Aldo Fabrizi) arrives in a new school run by a strict principal (Alfredo Mayo) . Later on, unfortunately , Giovanni loses his son Antonio in a road accident. Then Giovanni feels pain , distress , suffering and alone in the world when his son dies . Then he loses God faith and would like to abandon his school, but changes the mind when one day a new student called Gabriel (Marco Paoletti) appears at the classroom . Something really miraculous happens later until an amazing ending with hope , love and redemption .

Charming fim with an agreeable religious story , evocative images and stirring finale . This is an attractive film in the wake of the Religious Genre of the 40s and 50s, such as "Marcelino Pan y Vino" , concerning a good-natured teacher who feels really alone when his son passed away . And Marco Paleotti plays the likeable, mysterious little boy appearing here and there, while surprising to the teacher with unexpected questions . Stars Aldo Fabrizi giving a stunning acting as the good-tempered schoolmaster who awakens new feelings when a kid showing up and revealing the miracle that brought them together. In starts of his successful career, Fabrizi acted/wrote/directed in music halls and variety shows getting hit smash enough.

The great Aldo Fabrizi entered films in 1942 and often wrote and directed his vehicles, winning international acclaim in the Roberto Rossellini's neorealist drama Rome , Open City (1945), in which he played a priest who bravely defies the fascist regime. Heavy in heart and girth, he performed primarily in Neopolitan films for over four decades. Such notable post-war films include To Live in Peace (1946), Professor My Son (1946), Flesh Will Surrender (1947), Escape Into Dreams (1948), Immigrants (1949), Cops and Robbers (1951), Five Paupers in an Automobile 1952), Of Life and Love (1954) . A master of the double take, he adapted equally well to comedy and drama, but did not earn much recognition in America. He devoted much of his time in later years to the culinary arts, writing several cookbooks and related poetry. He died of a heart ailment in his 85th year. He's well accompanied by a good support cast formed by prestigious Spanish actors , such as : Alfredo Mayo , Mary Lamar , Félix Fernández , José Calvo . And special mention for the always excellent Julia Caba Alba.

It contains an adequate musical score by Carlo Innocenzi and Isidro B. Maiztegui . It displays atmospheric cinematography in black and white by Antonio Macasoli and Manuel Merino . This good feeling and touching motion picture was professionaly acted/directed by Aldo Fabrizi . It won prizes as Cinema Writers Circle Awards, Spain 1958 Winner CEC Award Best Original Story : Luis Lucas Ojeda , José Gallardo ; National Syndicate of Spectacle, Spain 1957 Winner Prize of the National Syndicate of Spectacle Best Screenplay Luis Lucas Ojeda , José Gallardo . Aldo Fabrizi was a good actor and filmmaker , who directed a few films, such as : Han robado un tranvía , Questa è la vita : segment "Marsina stretta" , Una di quelle , Papà diventa mamma , La famiglia Passaguai fa fortuna , ¡Qué familia! , Benvenuto reverendo! , Emigrantes. Rating El Maestro : 6.5/10 . Well worth watching .

I watched this film many years ago as a child in the 1960s. Though I have not seen it again since then, I remember it like I remember no other movie because of the impact it had on me. The movie was filmed in black and white and I believe it was set in England.

As I recall, it is a simple and moving story about the relationship that formed between a grieving schoolmaster and a young boy who transferred into his class one day. The schoolmaster was grieving the death of his own young son who was killed recently somehow. In the scene that introduces the boy, the schoolmaster accidentally overturns a cup of paintbrushes in a fit of despair. In the next scene, we see a boy's hand pick up a paintbrush and then we see the boy hand it back to him. Throughout the film, the boy tries in his own way to reach out to the schoolmaster to befriend him, but the schoolmaster finds it difficult to get close to him or to anyone in his grief. Something happens later in the film that awakens the schoolmaster to his feelings about the boy and reveals the miracle that brought them together.

Ours is a skeptical and cynical age. This movie will remind us of a simpler time and perhaps stir something in us that we may have forgotten. It is a movie of suffering and hope.