Benvenuti al sud

Plot synopsis:
The plot is similar to that of the film Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis : the manager of a postal service (Poste Italiane) in northern Italy, near Milan, is banished to Castellabate, a town near Salerno in southern Italy, for two years.
Alberto Colombo, postmaster of Usmate Velate in Brianza, fails to obtain a transfer to Milan as precedence is given to a handicapped worker. So Alberto pretends to be paralyzed in order to get the coveted transfer, and thereby fulfill the desire of his wife Silvia to live in the capital of Lombardia and satisfy his own ambitions in life, including those he has for the future of his son Chicco, who would be able to study in an "American School" there. However, his deception is discovered when he himself gives the game away by standing up to greet the inspector sent to check the veracity of his claim to be physically handicapped in order to obtain the desired transfer. As a punishment, Alberto is thus transferred South to become postmaster of the provincial village of Castellabate - described in the movie as being near Naples.
Before he goes to the new destination, otherwise dismissal for serious responsibility, he informs himself about the conditions of life in the South with members of the Academy of the gorgonzola to which he belongs. Alberto is placed as a warning to all the problems adverse human and environmental (mafia, garbage in the streets, stifling heat), which will face the new site. All these warnings expressed by those in the South had already experienced, they simply raise concerns and precautions that the Director Lombard adopt with the help of his wife. After loading the car fire extinguishers, a sunscreen with a high protection, body armor, mousetraps, and have hidden the ' wedding ring of gold, and its clock value, Alberto and partly due to reach the new target work. The journey will be long, melancholy and haunting, at a steady pace so slow that it will exhibit at the risk of getting a fine for having obstructed the traffic, saved only by the mercy of the police officer who knew where he was going, he compares his situation to that of a brother military was sent into the Kosovo War. Following the instructions from navigation, then along a stretch of the busy Salerno-Reggio Calabria, being stuck in a long traffic jam. The trip ends late at night, when it reaches the village on the hill, greeted by pouring rain. A Castellabate, thanks to the postman Mattia and colleagues Mary Costabile Costabile small and great, having committed some events, Alberto ends up appreciating the beauty and the habits of the town of Campania, noting also a low crime rate, pleasant places, not too muggy and warm sympathy of the people, finally discovering that his ideas on the south were often only prejudices. In the quiet village but for the joy of having found new friends and the effort of trying to imitate the habits of the locals will have to contend with the often gruff and unyielding policeman of the place, and this will take a fine for having thrown its waste from the window or for breaking into a bar with the moped service, completely drunk.
Meanwhile, he keeps hidden reality to Silvia, who seems open to change and biased toward the south: thinking they can improve their relationship, says exactly the opposite of what you are going through, condescending stereotypes to which the wife and her circle of friends are loyal: tells of being evil and live in an unsanitary and dangerous. One day, Silvia decides to visit him, thus Alberto in great embarrassment with friends, who will clear the lies told to confess to his wife on the South They, however, although at first bitter and angry with the director, decide to help unbeknownst to him so that his wife, who came to Castellabate, see fulfilled all the lies you hear from her husband organized a skit that shows the village dangerous, dilapidated and chaotic. In the end the truth will out, and his wife, discovered the whole staging, is furiously angry, threatening the separation. Alberto therefore plays a role in bringing to Mattia colleague and ex-girlfriend Maria, who later married Matthias and from which, at the end of the film, will be expecting a child. This reveals the groundlessness of the allegations of the wife of his relationship with the beautiful colleague Maria Silvia eventually forgive Alberto, and moved to the next two years in the South, next to her husband and his son Chicco. At the end of the stay in the South will prove to be a fantastic experience, it will be difficult for Alberto to forget, so much so that when it finally comes to Alberto then the long-awaited letter of transfer to Milan, they almost regretted it. The film ends with the scene of Alberto, happy to return home, but at the same time sad for having to leave the beautiful and peaceful Castellabate, traveling to its new destination with the whole family.

Tags: comedy

Review:
Very well rounded comedy for all ages, with a positive message.
I've just watched this movie as part of the Italian Film Festival held yearly at Washington University in St.Louis, Missouri, HTTP://www.italianfilmfestivalstlouis.com/.
The film was projected in Italian, subtitled in English.
This is a solid comedy.
I laughed practically all the time.
It was judged the best movie of the festival, by a mixed audience of Italians and Americans.
It is not sex-oriented, even if Valentina Lodovini (Maria) shows considerable amount of her upper-front anatomy; that's just natural in Italy.
And it's really witty, and well structured for creating a crescendo of humor.
I haven't seen the original French version, so I don't know whether the credit for this is due to the Italian production or not.
Italians in Italy might not like this movie because it seems to tread too lightly on very serious things, like the violence, the garbage, and other known problems in the Naples' area.
But, you know?
It's a comedy!
And, contrary to what some Italians in Italy feel, this movie shows that North people when forced to confront their prejudices they might discover that they are also good, nice, friendly South people out there.
Italians at the Film festival actually loved this movie, while hated the two that showed a more "realistic" view of the Neapolitan way of life.
The reason is that a movie is also an ambassador for the country of origin.
Nobody outside Italy wants to see, not even a part of their country always portrayed as a cesspool of garbage and violence, without showing the rest of such community.
For me the message of this movie is universal, not just Italian.
In all human confrontations, the other side is also human.
And if we learn how to walk in the shoes of the "other", looking at life through the "other"'s eyes, we may find that we are not different at all.
I didn't give it a full 10 because the process of making it oh-so-funny, made some situations, and the personal relationships (husband-wife, boyfriend-girlfriend, etc.) become a bit unreal and stereotypical.
But I laughed!
Finally, I wonder where did they found so many practitioners, at the "truly-incomprehensible-master level", of the Neapolitan dialect....
Welcome to the South.
Welcome to the South The final installment of the Metro-Detroit Italian Film Festival (2012) featured director Luca Minero's Benvenuti al sud, Welcome to the South (2011).
The venue of Royal Oak's new Emagine Theatre was filled to capacity and resulted in the always unfortunate scenario of turning away hundreds of would be patrons.
The film begins with Alberto Colombo (Claudio Bisso) as a civil servant of the Italian-Postale.
Alberto has been passed up for promotion to a coveted Milan position and following a comical yet ill-fated attempt to secure another such opening is assigned to two years postale purgatory in Italy's southern region.
Alberto's wife Silvia (Angela Finocchiaro) chooses to remain in the civilized north while Alberto is subjected to his penance.
The ensuing journey is a farcical romp through social stereotypes and false assumptions which leads Alberto to re-evaluate his own system of beliefs.
Steeped in Italian cinemas rich history of neo-realism and romanticism it seems that amore' is the parallel undercurrent to the film.
Love reigns supreme beneath the comical veneer, as southern mama's boy Mattia Volpe (Alessandro Siani) garners courage to express his affections for local bellissima Maria (Valentina Lodovini).
Alberto and Silvia teeter on the brink of their faltering relationship and her brave trip to the south will either break them or change them forever.
A wonderful introspective on pre-conceived notions that prove false wrong when people understand one another combined with breathtaking scenery of Italy's southern coastal regions make this a film for all the world to enjoy.
The sequel Welcome to the North (2012) should prove to be equally entertaining as the noteworthy cast of Alberto's friends invade the northern regions.
Caio!.
As good as the original!.
As another person already remarked this is a remake of another french movie that I have viewed and liked it very much.
Both are as good because send a strong message against prejudice and the aim in my opinion is well achieved.
I think both deserve to be seen because apart from the hilarious script which made me laugh from beginning to end, it's at moments touching and in others so true that one wouldn't doubt a second this could have even been a real story.I have seen it in Italian and although I know it's translated also in other languages (i.e. German) I can't imagine whether the movie translated makes laugh as the Italian version..
Great and sweet movie.
This movie is a remake of a French movie: "Bienvenue chez les ch'tis" which is the higher French box office of all times and it is even better than the original.
I fluently speak French,I saw, understood and liked the original one but I loved this one better, maybe because I can understand better the difference of mentality between southern and northern Italian people (I'm Italian myself).
Both movies are really funny and positive.
It should be interesting an American remake.
The idea could be: let's send a white racist man to work in a black neighbour and make him understand how much black people can be nice, funny and friendly.
The story: a racist guy from Milan (north Italy) is transfered from a post office in Milan to another one in a little southern city and after many funny situations he falls in love for this new place (I don't want to spoil more).
I suggest to every Italian moviegoer to watch this little great movie, maybe it will not change your way to think but for sure it will make you laughing..
Great fun in South of Italy.
It is many years ago I haven't seen such a funny comedy from Italy.
In fact it's a perfect copy of the french blockbuster "Bienvenu Chez Les Ch'tis".
Both versions had a great success in Italy respectively in France.I recommend to see each one of them.
"Benvenuti al Sud" I liked even much more what confirms the previous reviews here.
There are many special situations with their Italian people's hot temperament from Naple.Just see it and you will spend no doubt a very entertaining time.Rating: 7/10..
sentimental comedy.
It's a sentimental comedy - a bit pathetic.
This is the limit of the current cinema in Italy.
we have no sense of irony, then you can have only from one side the desperation of Gomorrah, and on the other "plastic" comedies like this one.
It is very difficult to find popular movies comparable with the old Italian masterpieces.
The characters are not credible and not funny.
This movie depicts a more stereotypical vision of the Italian than the Sopranos' TV series - By the way, it is curios that a TV-serial made in US is more effective to depict some of the Italian culture than movies made in Italy.
As Italians, we have no way to reflect to our conditions, improve ourselves and avoid to be stuck to the same old stereotypes: Pizza,Sole,Mandolino with the difference that in this movie Mafia is just a fiction - a set inside the set just to save Alberto's marriage - this is very sad, and not funny at all..
A sentimental, 'feelgood' farce with heaps of potential which is seldom realised..
This is a curiously lame re-versioning of a French film, which was much more successful on many levels, the most important being the direction.
WTTS is an awkward experience for this audience member; it's full of good farcical ideas and nice, broad characters, but it never really comes to life, because the staging, the timing and the acting all miss the mark.
You can see how good it could have been, how many of the scenes, played differently would have worked.
Alas it's mostly flat, overly sentimental but cheerful.
The only actor in the cast with whom I'm familiar is Angela Finocchiaro, whom I very much admired in "Don't Tell" - in which she gave a funny and moving performance.
Here she's not given much to do beyond acting out the demands of of her caricatured character and the unlikely turns of the plot.
I kept expecting her to be funny, but I was always disappointed.
I attribute this to poor writing and even poorer direction.
It's often extraordinary how certain scenes are staged - as though the director is anti-comedy.