Io speriamo che me la cavo

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".

I actually watched it 15 times from 2019 to nowdays and everytime I see it I remember an old teacher that teached catholic religion in middle school. He always looked strict but teached me and my classmates with his heart; he often defended me and let me build in me courage and strength just like Marco Tullio Sperelli... I always remember him as my teacher T^T.

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.

This movie is great for those who:

-love Italian culture

-love Italian kids

-love southern Italian dialect

This movie haunted me at movie stores since I became interested in foreign films 4 or 5 years ago. Glaring and obnoxious as its cover is, I finally rented it. All in all a decent comedy.

In my ratings scale, comedies are graded more on their humor than their story line. In the case of this movie, that is a good thing. A weak story of coincidence, a northern italian professor ends up teaching in the chaos that is Italy southern (Napoli).

I loved the movie because I understand italian well enough to not read the satisfactory subtitles and because the kids were luminous compared to the usual fumbling kiddie actors; these ones were adorable and their lines hilarious.

Other notes: There is a lot of vulgarity in this movie, as is typical in the south. The lead, a likeable Paolo Villaggio, plays foil for the wild kids. The story is simple and dismissable. The cinematography is standard, blessed by the wondrous ambient that is the dilapidated South. A normally celebrated Wertmuller seems to have chosen an easy project here. The movie was produced by media mogul Silvio Berlusconi (vaffa!).

Ultimately it's a movie to waste 90 min, but it was enjoyable and will certainly rouse a smile when I see it on the shelves next time.

6/10, JCC

Nice movie and important for me. It should be more taken into consideration because it is well done and lasts just right. Paolo Villaggio manages very well to play a character other than Fantozzi. It is one of the best films with Villaggio in the cast. It is nice to see the cross-section of the southern setting of a village near Naples. Northern and southern Italy are different but in the end we understand that we are the same and we all have to learn something.