I am choosing to write about Pino because while this character was incredibly frustrating to me, I think that he played an important role in the film. Pino is a young man who is very proud of his heritage and wants to realize what he believes is his full potential. He considers the location of his father’s pizza shop to be less than ideal and thus unacceptable. He is quick to anger because he feels as though he and his family are being held back. This is shown very explicitly through his complete refusal to accept the people in his community and the role that he plays in the community.
Pino creates a lot of tension and conflict because he considers himself and his family to be above the rest of the inhabitants of his community. He looks down upon the misfits and failures, which he seems to see as all black people. He does not consider the citizens of this mostly minority community to be worthy of working or even eating at the pizzeria. This highlights the key concepts of racism, acceptance, and self-entitlement that are addressed in the movie.
The stubborn, unrelenting way in which Pino upholds his ideas and beliefs illustrates how this behavior can exacerbate conflicts and damage relationships. His extremism not only affects the other community members who are confronted by him, but also his own family. His father constantly has to try to keep him in check and his brother falls victim to his vicious aggression and sense of authority.
Although I did not like Pino’s character at all, the movie probably would not have had such a tragic end had his family listened to him. Pino wanted to move the restaurant to a different neighborhood. Though he desired this because he thought they could do better and the people in their current community were not good enough for them, it turned out that he was right to want to move. Radio Raheem would probably still be alive and the pizzeria probably would not have been burned down had they moved as Pino urged. So, in the end, he was right that they were not well matched to the community.
Very interesting comments here, Amber. Your concluding points raise some questions for me. Do you think it's the film's view that Pino's desire to leave the neighborhood is the right thing, that they would all be better off if Sal's closed and he and his sons left the neighborhood?
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