Benvenuti al sud

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.

I consider this comedy even better than the original "Bienvens Chez les Ch'tis". But, in order to totally grasp the humour of this movie, you have to watch it in Italian and know the antagonism between the north of Italy and the south. This is so overwhelming funny and respects the cultural identity of the Italian people.

I absolutely enjoyed it.

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...

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.

Very nice and funny movie that manages to disassemble some stereotypes of the south keeping others in a very funny way. A film that makes everyone laugh and teaches great values such as friendship.