Not to be confused with the wholly inferior Kevin Costner vehicle with the same name (Il Postino means "The Postman" - US title), this charming Italian language film won an Academy Award for Original Music Score and was nominated for five other awards including Best Director, Best Actor (Massimo Troisi) and Best Picture.

The film focuses on the unlikely (in the real world, at least) friendship that is struck up between Neruda (accompanied by Matilde who was later to become his wife) and Mario Ruoppolo (Massimo Troisi), the hapless son of a fisherman on a poverty-stricken island, who is employed to deliver Neruda's (Philippe Noiret) mail to him personally at his villa. There is something for everyone in this film - romance, politics, drama, comedy, but overall there is poetry and magic. It is this magic and the wonderful performance by the two leads that makes the relationship credible and the story a warm and affectionate tribute to a great poet and the power of words to move people and lift them beyond their dull lives.

The political thread of the film runs throughout as well with smarmy politicians from the mainland visiting the island and making promises that never materialise to the islanders for votes. As well as discussing poetry, Neruda teaches Mario about Communism and by the time that Neruda leaves, Mario decides he is Communist too. Once he leaves, in spite of promises to stay in touch, Neruda never does. With Neruda gone, Mario settles back into his humdrum existence on the island, now as a married man and restauranteur. He believes that the poet has forgotten him but one day receives a letter from him. This perks up Mario's spirit but then he realises that it is just a letter from the poet's secretary asking him to forward some items he had left behind on the island. Mario is devastated and feels betrayed but then he decides that the poet had forgotten all about him because he is an unimportant person who has never achieved anything in his life. He decides to channel this frustration into a new poem that he writes called Canto a Pablo Neruda (Song for Pablo Neruda). Happy again, with his poetry to comfort him, his poem is well received and he is invited to perform before an audience in Naples. He takes the tape recorder along to record the audience's applause but as he is about to ascend the stage, a fight breaks out and Mario is killed in the skirmish.