Pulzone’s movie review:

CIAO PROFESSORE! 1994. This movie is in Italian with English subtitles and I recommend this format for viewing as opposed to English voice-over which gets lost in translation. A tender and often hilarious comedy from Lina Wertmuller centering on a teacher who is mistakenly assigned to a third-grade class in an impoverished town in Southern Italy, more specifically, a small poor fishing village in Napoli. The teacher is portrayed by the powerful actor, Paolo Villaggio, proper and stuffy and absolutely against this mistake in his teaching location. His life gets turned upside-down and soon faces the Mafia, truancy, and pupils with family problems while trying to steer his students in the right direction. These kids in the movie were spectacular actors; actually they all were so good that you forget they are actors. (Personally, being close to several relatives and friends in Southern Italy who have told me the many healthcare problems in the more secluded and non-tourist areas, this movie really touched my heart.) The teacher bonds with his students in a way that would never have occurred to him before this assignment, nor has he ever experienced with prior assignments with the more well-to-do pupils in the Northern regions. The experience changes the way he looks at his life, his values and the power of teaching and caring.

It is out on DVD and video.