I'm Nino. Who are you?

Actually, as a completely off-topic comment, I saw Peter Miller (played Nino) about a month ago in Montreal at a Blockbuster downtown about a month ago. He looked fit and healthy, had long-ish hair (shoulder-length), and he was rather tall.

But more on your comment: I do think it's best we make our own choices and our own mistakes, as you said, as we make them for our own reasons suiting our logic and/or feelings for situations and circumstances. (I admit I haven't seen the movie in a while, but I loved it, so I may be a little off in my comments.) Perhaps Nino wasn't denying his "true self" as many say, maybe he only felt that way or acted that way about Angelo and knew he could be happy with That Woman (didn't like the character, was acted beautifully though, and I love her as an actress, Sophie Lorain rules!). Besides, we're all happy at the end when Angelo gets a man who has true feelings that meet Angelo's own, as well as their views on life and their values, as opposed to someone whose values don't match his own. Nino made the right choice for himself (covering his own butt where his family and future are concerned) and he was satisfied with that. Angelo knew himself well enough that he knew he wouldn't be able to live the life or the way Nino wanted to live it.

I thought of "Original Sin" a lot after reflecting on the movie more, where Angelina Jolie's character doesn't fit in Antonio Banderas' character's world, and vice versa. It's true that Nino and Angelo come from the same cultural background, but their families are different in the way they deal with change and "diversity", as well as the fact that the two men were treated differently in school and by other children. Their immediate surroundings in some areas were completely different. Nino hid his childhood friendship with Angelo while the kids all pranked and teased and were cruel to Angelo (tying him to the locker and writing "F A G"), so he had a history of just hiding things and pretending they never happened, so his choice in the end made sense for the character, he doesnt change or develop, he's true to the original nature presented to us in the beginning. Angelo, however, realizes he can't live nino's life and that he has to forge his own path, when he hasn't really done anything himself, more like taken the punches that were thrown at him, never really punching back.