Benvenuti al sud/Welcome to the South (2010)

The film is an acknowledged remake of a French movie, Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis, which told the story of a southern postal employee unhappily transferred to the north. But in an Italian context, and with a self-pitying northern hero dispatched to the Mezzogiorno, the plot acquires more political bite. That is a view that would no doubt be endorsed by the wife of the film's hero. She is the leader of a thinly disguised Northern League vigilante patrol with a sense of civic duty so strong she will not let her son accept a balloon from a street trader unless it is accompanied by a valid tax receipt. When her husband, played by Claudio Bisio, is posted south of Naples, she buys him a flak jacket.

A family man who lives in a chic and prim Milan suburb works in management for the Italian postal service and fakes a physical handicap to get a promotion. Unmasked just when he thinks he's gotten away with it, his superiors punish him by transferring him to a village near Naples for 2 years. Terrified by the idea of having to live in chaos and violence in a place where he doesn't even understand the local dialect, the fussy businessman has no idea he's about to discover the many charms of the region: its joie de vivre, its hospitality, its cuisine...
Italian remake of the French hit Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis that pokes fun at the cultural and linguistic rivalries between Italy's north and south.

Welcome to the South - Film Review
Director: Luca Miniero
Stars: Claudio Bisio, Alessandro Siani and Angela Finocchiaro
Production land: Italy
Premiere Date: 1 October 2010 Italy
IMDb - 6.3 (1350 votes)