Bienvenue dans le sud

Benvenuti al Sud is a comedy that was remade from the French comedy ” Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis” (Welcome to the Sticks) – and in this case “the sticks” are in the north of France and the desirable location is the south. But one country’s hang ups at a time – In Italy though, the stereotypical “sticks” is more likely to be in the southern parts of the country.

Alberto (Claudio Bisio) and his family (his wife, Silvia played by Angela Finocchiaro) live in a small town not far from Milan and he dreams of moving to the big city but when he applies for a transfer he learns that handicapped people are being shown preference. Alberto fails in his wacky, not very believable attempt to make superiors believe he’s needs a wheelchair to get around and his punishment is two years in the south.

Next thing you know, Alberto is heading for his new job near Naples. Because of the perceived crime and poverty he leaves Silvia and his son at home and tells them he’ll be back to visit every couple of weeks, but what he finds in his new home is not what he expected, of course, and his perceptions are challenged and changed.

Benvenuti al Sud is very subtle in this north vs south instance; very sweet and surprisingly void of these tired movie stereotypes. I like how director Luca Miniero didn’t try to make the southern Italians all seem like adorable, too good to be true characters with hearts of gold nor did he vilify the north. He made everybody real people. He showed the differences between northerners and southerners without making one seem better than the other and without exaggeration.

The scenery in Benvenuti al Sud is beautiful, the acting is great, and the theme is, obviously, universal.