Reviews (12)

An Italian "To Sir, With Love"
This is a very touching movie. The story has been told in many ways, but somehow this movie shows a freshness of its own. A northern Italian teacher is sent to southern Italy (Napoli or a town near it) due to an error. Few of the children go to school because of economic and social difficulties. Il professore goes out to the streets and homes and drags the children to class. The children are mostly street smart wise guys. The movie is rated R due to a constant stream of crude language by the children, but don't let that stop you. (I would like to know what a fart jockey is.)

Eventually, the teacher and the children learn from each other profoundly, etc.

The acting more than makes up for the plot!

Enjoy!

"Me, let' shope I'll make it" - Simple and touching film
I saw this film several times - I was born and went to elemntary and grade school in Naples - as it reminded me all to well of both the incredible warmth, generosity and spirit of my fellow Neapolitans as well as the many evil and decaying aspects of life that persist. I was lucky enough to live in the City itself and go to a better school; however, the film is actually based on very real events and is merely somewhat adapted to ease the translation into film. The movie - and most of the dialogue - is based on a book that collected the essays of grade 3 students in the De Amicis school in Arzano, a poor suburb of Naples, in the late 80's. The teacher had collected the genuine and honest tales of life as precieved by his students. In the film the teacher comes from another city through bureaucratic error; in the book he's as Neapolitan as pizza. The excellent children actors - who were chosen among regular school children in Arzano (called Corsano in the film) - in fact use dialogue that is lifted directly from the essays. Unfortunately, to capture the full humor, knowing Italian is not enough, it's necessary to understand Neapolitan dialect and the psychology of Neapolitans. One of my favorite characters - apart from the briosche loving fat kid (I love briosche also) is the old and very sarchastic uncle who advises the baby that life is tough and hardly a collection of smiles. Like all Wertmuller's films, this one has a lot of humanity and is ultimately optimistic about the future of humanity. i suppose that's why she chooses so many of her film subjects among the very human people of Naples.

Completely Magical!
CIAO, PROFESSORE is a film that deserves to be in everyone's collection. Every aspect of this utterly charming story is so well done that it feels perfect. Based on actual 3rd grade children's essays from a school outside of Naples, Italy, the script sings and dances in words that only children could have spoken. Lina Wertmuller takes this fine script and populates it with fine actors: Paolo Villaggio is inimitable as the Professor who comes form Northern Italy to the squalor of Southern Italy with all of the ideals of a dedicated teacher in place - or out of place, as he finds in the poverty and crime stricken city of Corsano; Isa Danieli is the coarse and world-hardened Principal of the school; and the children who begin as renegades and slowly enter a mutual transformation with the Professore are played by 'non-professional actors' gleaned from Naples. The children steal the show, so individual and committed are they to their roles. A film about poverty and misguided kids could be depressing, but Wertmuller and her fine cast make this a celebration of the human spirit without ever dipping into bathos. This is one of the finest movies about the teacher/student relationship that has ever been made -and that is saying a lot. Highly Recommended.

Ciao Professore !
This movie, of a professore from the North, who gets transferred in error to a village outside of Napoli is a funny but sobering look at the conditions that the southerners had to live with and still do. You'll love the approach of the film to the societal problems of the south, you'll laugh and then want to cry, all at the same moment. If your family origins are from southern Italy, the memories of our dialect are unmistakable, enjoyable, nostalgic and funny.

Ciao Professore
A delightful tale told well about life in the ghettos of Naples and how kids get trapped into a life with no future. The amazing part of this film is that the children who played the parts of the ghetto kids were actually local kids from the ghetto with no acting experience! They do an acting job that puts most of Hollywood's kid stars to shame. All the acting was first rate as was the direction and technical aspects of the film.

Heart warming and very funny. Certainly worth seeing from both an entertainment and educational point of view. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Lina Wertmuller and her favorite actor, Giancarlo Giannini,took large steps toward establishing their international reputations withthis 1973 tragi-comedy about an oaf who gets it into his head to assassinate Mussolini right after the Fascist takeover of Italy. The hero's plans, however,get a little off-track when he falls for a prostitute in the brothel wherehe's hiding out. As always, Wertmuller's politics can get ahead of the restof her film. But her sharply perceptive and comic takes on the collapse ofvarious human constructions--social divisions, schemes, dignity--in intense situations is the stuff of genuine revelation. Giannini's renown in the 1970s as a new Chaplin, an innocent buffeted by the world's brutality andeasily distracted, got a big boost from his work here. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (4)

A Brilliant Study of Turmoil and Human Testing...
Directed by Lina Wertmüller in 1973, "Love & Anarchy" is an indisputable classic. Universally identifiable and immediately entertaining, Wertmüller carries her audience into the mind and times of Turin, a peasant in 1930s Italy. When one of his close friends and idols is killed by fascists, Turin becomes obsessed with anarchist ideals he hardly understands, and sets off to exact an awful vendetta--the assassination of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. The plan gets off-track when Turin falls in love with Tripolina, a prostitute in the bordello where he lives in the days leading up to the assassination attempt. We soon learn that Tripolina returns his love, and the tragic stage is set. Knowing full well that the assassination attempt, successful or not, will surely mean his death, Turin is suddenly gripped by fear. When all he had at stake was a quiet life on the farm, he was glad to give it up for a chance at changing the quality of life for his peasant countrymen. But now, having tasted the happiness love can afford, can Turin really carry through with this suicidal act? Can he truly give up his life for a belief he once thought was worth dying?

"Love & Anarchy" is a brilliant study of turmoil and human testing in the face of insurmountable odds. It begs the question--is it better to bow and live, or stand up and die? How much can a people be crushed before someone makes a sacrifice for the betterment of society? Whose responsibility is it? And on a grander scale, is it better to live happily, contented by love or family, and leave the world untouched, or to attempt real change by sacrificing everything in exchange for it? "Love & Anarchy" poses all these questions, but it offers no easy answers.

Wertmüller's favorite actor, Giancarlo Giannini, plays the peasant boy, Turin, with beautiful humility. He wordlessly portrays infinite subtleties of emotion with body language and facial expression alone. Giannini has the face of a silent movie actor, and in fact was touted as a new Chaplin in the 1970s. Playing opposite him as the prostitute Salome is Mariangela Melato, who viewers may recognize from Wertmüller's "Swept Away." She, too, delivers a wonderful performance. The style and pacing of the film are excellent. Cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno captures Rome in a gorgeous, yet unobtrusive manner.

In "Love & Anarchy," Wertmüller doesn't pull any punches. As par usual, she lets the politics of her movie decide the fate of its characters, and tragedy ensues. One must admire her for making an extraordinarily brave and beautiful film. She exhibits how powerful and effective a tragic story can truly be in exploring the more complex questions of life.

DVD Technical Review
I have exchanged this DVD twice and find that the quality of the transfer is unacceptable. Fox Lorber simply did a poor job of transferring this film to DVD. I recommend that you NOT purchase this DVD until they do a better job of transferring the movie. The movie deserves better.

Wertmuller's most stylish film
This film, set in a brothel during WWII in fascist Italy, hammers home Wertmuller's common theme that men, ruled by their passions as well as society's views of how men must act (see her film "All Screwed Up" for an even more unambiguous statement of this philosphy), cannot adapt well to change and are often the reasons for their own downfalls. Gianini plays a country peasant who travels to the city to assassinate Mussolini; seemingly devoid of poilitical convictions, the only clue we get to reason behind his mission is his statement, "Sometimes a Man must stand up and say enough!". And it is this statement that is his ultimate downfall.

By contrast, the women in the brothel show themselves to me quite strong, yet capable of adapting to the changes the political situation brings; they can get along with the fascists (allowing them to sample their wares), yet can also strike back or make the sacrifices necessary to achieve their aims (one of the major sacrifices demonstrated is the major character's willingnenss to allow her beloeved to think she betrayed him (and wind up hating her) to save his life. Even the men that get along with the fascists assume the more submissive, traditionally female roles. The real tragedy occurs because Gianini's character refuses to abandon his macho character traits and foolishly goes forward with a suicide mission which is neither well thought out or executed.

Some of Wertmuller's ideas and themes may be a bit dated, remember this was released nearly thirty years ago; but the film provides an entertaining look at a woman's view of a male dominated society in the early days of the womens' liberation movement. The style, pacing, and direction, to sya nothing of the acting talents of Gianini and Melato, contribute to an important film that is well worth viewing.

Wertmuller's Moral Squint
{I love the reviews posted after the "professional critics" have had their say. They are invariably more forthright and honest, avoiding all the usual hot air that movie reviewers (Leonard Maltin, take note) engage in when their memory of a particular movie comes up fuzzy.] Wertmuller's Love and Anarchy seems to foreshadow her one other film set in Mussolini's Italy (forgetting Blood Feud completely - despite Loren and Mastroianni [and Giannini] in their post-prime). I am referring to, of course, Seven Beauties. But Love & Anarchy features a hero who, while foolish and spotty-faced, is committed to a actual "cause" - i.e., the anarchist-sanctioned assassination of Mussolini. His final days are reckless and muddled, as he falls in love with his cousin in a Roman brothel (too many critics took this as symbolism). Mariangela Melato is yet another hooker with a heart of gold-plate, but she makes her character completely genuine. Giannini plays the hero, whose pathetic quest is made all the more pathetic by his distracting red hair and acne. Wertmuller portrays his last days as an ultimate waste. His mission fails (of course) and he is tortured and killed by Mussolini's thugs. And yet somehow his exploit, despite Wertmuller's rather burlesque view of it, comes off as heroic - else why make a film about such as schlemiel? Wertmuller satirizes the Left as well as the Right, leaving us to believe that her sympathies are with the very anarchists she satirizes in Love & Anarchy. And I have never seen an Italian film with this much "brio" since Pietro Germi. ... Read more

Amazon.com

This 1972 film by Lina Wertmuller (Seven Beauties, Swept Away) is a wild farce of the Sicilian milieu. Mimi (who is a man) is forced to leave his hometown when he can no longer get work as a result of voting against the local strong arms in a "secret" ballot. In the big city he finds work, but also finds that life there is very much as corrupt as it was at home. He falls in love and has a child by his lover, and when forced to take a job in his hometown again, he must hide his lover and their son from his wife. When he is too tired to please his wife in bed after making love all day to his lover, she becomes pregnant by another man, setting off a chain of events that ultimately lead to a public revenge scene that possibly has no rival. What's even more amazing is that the film manages to portray a complex protagonist in a searing comedy. A must-see, especially if you'd like a lighter view of the same world portrayed in The Godfather. --James McGrath ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Mimi or Not Mimi?
After purchasing this DVD, and loving it, I still have a disturbing question: is this the same theatrical release version, which, according to Wertmuller, was criminally cut by New Line Cinema (the original distributor) by up to forty minutes? Do I have to go to Italy to find out?

Fantastic Classic
Highlly recommen

Comical Satire worth 10 points
A man that wants everything, and ends up with nothing. Mimi, the laborer, is seduced into working for the Mafia - which he hates and fears - to pay for his extramarital affairs.

A well made film of high caliber. Thoroughly enjoyable and remarkably light hearted for an otherwise somber topic. A must for the serious movie buff. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Lina Wertmüller's harrowing 1976 film stars Giancarlo Giannini as a petty crook with seven unattractive sisters to support, and it features a picaresque, World War II-era journey through a prison asylum, army service, and a Nazi concentration camp. Wertmüller is more indulgent in highbrow sadomasochism than she is real profundity, but there's no denying that the film is powerful in its story of subjugation and survival. A climactic scene in which Giannini saves his skin at the camp by seducing its disgusting female commandant is unnervingly honest. Giannini became a '70s international icon partially on the basis of this work. The DVD release has optional English and Italian soundtracks, production notes, and filmographies of the talent. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (19)

One of the best Italian films
I've decided to watch this one to form an objective opininon on the director, Lina Wertmuller. This movie is in such a sharp contrast with her other movie, Swept Away, which I found a failure. However, I wouln't hesitate to call this one a masterpiece, for me it is a multi-dimentional film, impossible to say that it's all about survival. I think it's about a one's loss of his soul; the final scene when his mother is saying that he is alive, he doesn't seem to fully agree, althought physically he is indeed alive. A very powerful film, much more complex that Life Is Beautiful. One has to wonder if Lina Wertmuller had the same quality swings as Ken Russell, for example, where Lisztomania cannot even come close to Mahler.

My favorite movie
I have been searching everywhere for this movie since I saw it in my Italian class in college. I think it's the best movie ever made. At times it's touching, sad, and funny. It's a wonderful tale about survival and how each person has one special quality that can save them. For Pasqualino, it is his ability to woo women. For him to muster up his libido while so very close to death in order to save his life is a very heroic deed. Giancarlo Giannini and Shirley Stoler are great in this movie. It's very similar to "Life Is Beautiful", but that movie is much more of a fable than this one. Not to detract anything from "Life Is Beautiful" (which I think is a very good movie) but I think "Seven Beauties" is a superior film. Thank you Amazon for making this fantastic film available to me!

Swept Away
This is not the original R rated version I saw in New York City in 1977. It is edited into mediocrity! Sincerely, Wm Greenwood

Worst Movie I've ever seen- bar none
"Highlight" of movie: Concentration camp prisoner committs suicde by dving into a cesspool. Need I say more?

Hideous!
I knew that this film was a turkey from the get-go: Archival footage of war catastrophe accompanies an obnoxious voiceover of some guy repeating ad nauseam, "oh yeah! oh yeah!" Fighter pilots crash and burn, and we have this annoying, idiotic, "oh yeah, oh yeah."

There's a beautifully photographed scene shortly after this, set in a lush German forest. The camera should have stayed in that shot. Watching the green leaves sway outpaces everything to come. I thought the mass grave shooting was handled with taste. In fact, it's less shockingly portrayed than the gross Italian dance hall bit that follows, a sequence that runs on entirely too long, close-ups of an unattractive, untalented woman who is later thrashed around by her brother, the Giancarlo Giannini character -- a man who's impossible either to care about or laugh at. Awful, sick, repellent, and worst of all, empty and uninsightful.

People, just because a movie is unpleasant does not make it a masterpiece. I like difficult, challenging films; Seven Beauties, however, is squalid junk posing as art. ... Read more

Reviews (26)

Interesting Island Love Story
"Swept Away" is an interesting italian 1974 release about a greedy woman who expects her male servent to accommodate her with anything she pleases in all costs. Her cruelty takes an unexpected turn once they become trapped on an island together. Then the job roles turn around, and her trials return to haunt her. The war that erupts between each other takes an unusual turn.

This creative plot was written wonderfully. They combine drama, comedy, romance, and slight erotica to make this unforgettable movie. Its conflicts and its trials keep audiences watching closely at what will happen next. The love story theme is one of the most unique in cinema history, though cruel. Twists and turns arise in various scenes giving it the added edge, leading to a surprise and powerful conclusion. Though there are some flaws not relating to the writing, namely the woman managing to keep her make-up on throught the entire island stay without reapplying, the interesting storyline greatly makes up for it. The acting is interesting, especially the two lead actors: Giancarlo Giannini and Mariangela Melato. Though Melato occasionally overreacts some words, she keeps her character interesting with her unique charisma. Giannini keeps his aggressive edge intact in every moment. All other actors also perform their roles wonderfully.

"Swept Away" is a great film for those looking for something unforgettably unique. This will surely keep audiences entertained. Those who like this film should stay away from the 2002 American remake, starring Madonna. It's not nearly as good.

Madonna remake rumor hopefully unfounded
For those of you who loath foreign films, put that prejudice aside and check out this sensational movie. Giannini and Melato make the best screen couple I've seen since Bogart and Bergman. "Swept Away's" filled with witty, intelligent dialogue, hilarious banter and breath-taking scenes of the Mediteranean. Moreover it's fairly politically literate, which is a rarity in Hollywood these days (and in most other movie making outlets).
The plot sounds as formulaic as humanly possible, but wait! This one's different. It's got a style and panache that barely any other films can match. Sure it was controversial (the misogynistic violence is quite disturbing) but Lina Wertmuller offers up a masterpeice that should not be ignored. It's easily her best (some would argue "Seven Beauties" but I disagree) and most enjoyable movie. They just don't make movies like this anymore, and especially not in Hollywood. When recommending foreign films to your friends you can't go wrong by pushing this video into their hands.
To see this one on a large screen would be quite an experience, just looking at it on my regular television made it seem as if I was cruising the Medeteranean right along with them.
Wertmuller rightly deserves to be considered one of the world's finest directors (a label that often eludes her, as I feel she's somewhat underrated) with this and other fine productions under her belt.

Wertmuller is amazing
Director Lina Wertmuller's provocative film takes the class struggle to a desert island where only the man and the woman exist. Wertmuller's scenario is that of the man assuming the role of ruler and the woman one of worker-slave, and this becomes a love relationship. Naturally, the man is the one most reluctant to go back to the society where he is worker-slave and the woman is ruler over him! The black humor is wonderful because it is visual, via the camera angles and shots, and it is beautifully filmed. I'm afraid the new version, from what I've heard,(and I will not pay to see it)meddles with the ending and hence changes the meaning of the film. With a world-class filmmaker like Lina Wertmuller, why fix what isn't broke and do a remake of a perfectly fine work of art?

Better than the new version with Madonna
The new version with Madonna is very good, the production is better because was made 30 years later. But this original version is so much funny, the actors are amazing.
The story is about a woman who is having vacations with her husband and friends in her yacht and one day she and a sailor take a boat to go to a beach so she could swim. When she suggests this to the sailor he says that it was late and dangerous but she didn't care and as result they got lost and ended in a deserted island. So in the island the sailor who wasn't well treated in the yacht because of the master's wife, now decides that it's time to be the master so the rich woman has to do everthing that he wanted if she wanted to eat or be in the cottage that he found. As a result of all this they fall in love.
I'd really like to tell more beyond that point but you'll really have to see the movie.
This edition is in italian with subtitles in english, but it's better that the movie is in italian because the voices are really funny.
Between the original version and the new one there are some changes but not very big because basiclly the story is the same. But if you're choosing between one and the other, I'll strongly recommend this one, the first one. It's much more funnier.

Very Good
TAMING OF THE SHREW set on a desert island, and very good with great acting. Didn't like the woman-hitting scenes, but over all a well done, intelligent film. Very very well written. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

A Brilliant Study of Turmoil and Human Testing...
Directed by Lina Wertmüller in 1973, "Love & Anarchy" is an indisputable classic. Universally identifiable and immediately entertaining, Wertmüller carries her audience into the mind and times of Turin, a peasant in 1930s Italy. When one of his close friends and idols is killed by fascists, Turin becomes obsessed with anarchist ideals he hardly understands, and sets off to exact an awful vendetta--the assassination of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. The plan gets off-track when Turin falls in love with Tripolina, a prostitute in the bordello where he lives in the days leading up to the assassination attempt. We soon learn that Tripolina returns his love, and the tragic stage is set. Knowing full well that the assassination attempt, successful or not, will surely mean his death, Turin is suddenly gripped by fear. When all he had at stake was a quiet life on the farm, he was glad to give it up for a chance at changing the quality of life for his peasant countrymen. But now, having tasted the happiness love can afford, can Turin really carry through with this suicidal act? Can he truly give up his life for a belief he once thought was worth dying?

"Love & Anarchy" is a brilliant study of turmoil and human testing in the face of insurmountable odds. It begs the question--is it better to bow and live, or stand up and die? How much can a people be crushed before someone makes a sacrifice for the betterment of society? Whose responsibility is it? And on a grander scale, is it better to live happily, contented by love or family, and leave the world untouched, or to attempt real change by sacrificing everything in exchange for it? "Love & Anarchy" poses all these questions, but it offers no easy answers.

Wertmüller's favorite actor, Giancarlo Giannini, plays the peasant boy, Turin, with beautiful humility. He wordlessly portrays infinite subtleties of emotion with body language and facial expression alone. Giannini has the face of a silent movie actor, and in fact was touted as a new Chaplin in the 1970s. Playing opposite him as the prostitute Salome is Mariangela Melato, who viewers may recognize from Wertmüller's "Swept Away." She, too, delivers a wonderful performance. The style and pacing of the film are excellent. Cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno captures Rome in a gorgeous, yet unobtrusive manner.

In "Love & Anarchy," Wertmüller doesn't pull any punches. As par usual, she lets the politics of her movie decide the fate of its characters, and tragedy ensues. One must admire her for making an extraordinarily brave and beautiful film. She exhibits how powerful and effective a tragic story can truly be in exploring the more complex questions of life.

DVD Technical Review
I have exchanged this DVD twice and find that the quality of the transfer is unacceptable. Fox Lorber simply did a poor job of transferring this film to DVD. I recommend that you NOT purchase this DVD until they do a better job of transferring the movie. The movie deserves better.

Wertmuller's most stylish film
This film, set in a brothel during WWII in fascist Italy, hammers home Wertmuller's common theme that men, ruled by their passions as well as society's views of how men must act (see her film "All Screwed Up" for an even more unambiguous statement of this philosphy), cannot adapt well to change and are often the reasons for their own downfalls. Gianini plays a country peasant who travels to the city to assassinate Mussolini; seemingly devoid of poilitical convictions, the only clue we get to reason behind his mission is his statement, "Sometimes a Man must stand up and say enough!". And it is this statement that is his ultimate downfall.

By contrast, the women in the brothel show themselves to me quite strong, yet capable of adapting to the changes the political situation brings; they can get along with the fascists (allowing them to sample their wares), yet can also strike back or make the sacrifices necessary to achieve their aims (one of the major sacrifices demonstrated is the major character's willingnenss to allow her beloeved to think she betrayed him (and wind up hating her) to save his life. Even the men that get along with the fascists assume the more submissive, traditionally female roles. The real tragedy occurs because Gianini's character refuses to abandon his macho character traits and foolishly goes forward with a suicide mission which is neither well thought out or executed.

Some of Wertmuller's ideas and themes may be a bit dated, remember this was released nearly thirty years ago; but the film provides an entertaining look at a woman's view of a male dominated society in the early days of the womens' liberation movement. The style, pacing, and direction, to sya nothing of the acting talents of Gianini and Melato, contribute to an important film that is well worth viewing.

Wertmuller's Moral Squint
{I love the reviews posted after the "professional critics" have had their say. They are invariably more forthright and honest, avoiding all the usual hot air that movie reviewers (Leonard Maltin, take note) engage in when their memory of a particular movie comes up fuzzy.] Wertmuller's Love and Anarchy seems to foreshadow her one other film set in Mussolini's Italy (forgetting Blood Feud completely - despite Loren and Mastroianni [and Giannini] in their post-prime). I am referring to, of course, Seven Beauties. But Love & Anarchy features a hero who, while foolish and spotty-faced, is committed to a actual "cause" - i.e., the anarchist-sanctioned assassination of Mussolini. His final days are reckless and muddled, as he falls in love with his cousin in a Roman brothel (too many critics took this as symbolism). Mariangela Melato is yet another hooker with a heart of gold-plate, but she makes her character completely genuine. Giannini plays the hero, whose pathetic quest is made all the more pathetic by his distracting red hair and acne. Wertmuller portrays his last days as an ultimate waste. His mission fails (of course) and he is tortured and killed by Mussolini's thugs. And yet somehow his exploit, despite Wertmuller's rather burlesque view of it, comes off as heroic - else why make a film about such as schlemiel? Wertmuller satirizes the Left as well as the Right, leaving us to believe that her sympathies are with the very anarchists she satirizes in Love & Anarchy. And I have never seen an Italian film with this much "brio" since Pietro Germi. ... Read more