Wonderful character development!

Waste of time

Admirable film.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

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.

Yes, there's the exploration of the teacher - pupil relationship, the North versus the South (Italian-style) dichotomy, the familiar refrain of an elder imparting wisdom upon youth. But what I find most fascinating about the movie is the fact that the kids are, in many ways, more experienced, or understanding of real world survival than the professor. And so, in a sense, throughout the movie, they seem to be teaching him what life is about, too. I find it quite satisfying, then, that in the end, the professor and his pupils find a compromise in their morals and behavior that mutually benefits them and their relationship. The scene of the teacher and the kids speedily absconding on their bikes perfectly symbolizes the professor and his pupils' transformations.

This movie is great for those who:-love Italian culture-love Italian kids-love southern Italian dialectThis 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

This movie is a true gem...even with all the swearing it still retains an almost disney like innocence. The Italian children that are in this movie will absolutely amaze you...most north-american style child actors are guilty of either complete lack of talent, or of being hams...not so here.... not to say many of the scene's aren't over the top..they are...but they are done so well, and the comedy and drama handled so deftly you take it all in stride.... This movie is on par with another foreign film called "Children of Heaven"....different subject matter, but same sense of comedy and drama.