Io speriamo che me la cavo

I saw this film originally in 1999 with with an Italian 101 class. My recollection was that the film told of the tribulations of a bunch of ruffian Italian school kids who are given hope by an idealist teacher (a familiar theme, think "Stand and Deliver", "Teachers", etc.) However, on recently watching it again, I was impressed with how the story is really a very unique social commentary on Northern and Southern Italy in the pre-EU days.

The plights of the South are conveyed in third-grader's essays, showing how children absorb the environment, but retain the innocence that could make it possible for them to turn out all right. As an instructional Italian film, you are bound to be overwhelmed by some of the most colorful phrases imaginable for swearing at people. But they are all delivered by 9-year-olds who, with their creative gestures, can clearly be seen as recordings of their own observations of adults.

This film may not be as socially relevant as it was in 1999, since the Euro and free trade have transformed much of Europe. But with Italy's economic status being regarded as presently unstable, I think this film is worth watching even today. You'll laugh as you are appalled at the same time by the children's view of the world around them. It is a theme that could be applied to the children of any oppressed culture.

A perfect film, probably the best description of a difficult teacher-student interaction in a destitute neighborhood. Intense, sincere, shocking, never a dull moment. Paolo Villaggio is inimitable as the Professor who comes from Northern Italy to a village of Southern Italy with all the ideals of a dedicated teacher, as he finds himself immersed in the poverty and crime stricken city of Corzano. And the kids! these little rascals are just amazing. In my opinion, this is the best movie ever made by Lina Wertmuller, far from her past naive left-wing production. It would be nice that IMDb show its alternate title 'Ciao, Professore' as an option: it took me a while to figure out that the movie I had watched was the same as "Io speriamo che me la cavo".

Sometimes you almost forget you saw a movie, and then it comes back in a flood and there's some pleasant memories or not so much. Ciao Professore is that moment when I look this movie up on IMDb and realize that I sat and watched the thing from start to finish and have a memory of even enjoying it... and the reason it's in a haze is because it was shown to me in Italian class in high school. Was it good because it was something distracting me from the pain of high school, or because it was genuinely good and funny and insightful? Somewhere in the middle, and I think that having to watch it and note the Italian words was a part of my ambivalence in liking it more. Maybe I'd feel different about it today. For now I'd say if you ever come across this movie about an unconventional Italian teacher getting the town's wayward third grade students into something better than before with comic results - sort of like the wacky version of a Lean on Me, if that can possibly make sense - watch it, it's fun. If you go in expecting the Wertmuller of Seven Beauties, it's not that. It's her making a "kids" movie... which has its own edge, to be fair.

You will never see a better movie with child actors than this one. And Paolo Villaggio is very touching, he doesn't fool around like in the movies that followed the first Fantozzi. There are many scenes so emotional that they almost make you cry. A powerful film that will change the hearts of those who will see it. All the children in the film are truly extraordinary and, especially, Maria Esposito in the role of Rosinella.

Many of Lina Wertmuller's movies (such as "Seven Beauties" and "Swept Away") have dealt with the North-South divide in Italy. "Io speriamo che me la cavo" (called "Ciao, Professore!" in English) has Northern Italian professor Marco Sperelli (Paolo Villaggio) getting sent to a destitute town near Naples and having to get used to being a teacher there, especially with the presence of a young hoodlum in the school. Maybe it's not Wertmuller's greatest movie, but it is something that I would recommend - although I should warn you, there's some stuff here that might be a little shocking to find in a movie dealing with children. Buon viaggio!