Il minestrone

Il minestrone
Directed by	Sergio Citti
Written by	Sergio Citti Vincenzo Cerami
Starring	Roberto Benigni
Release date(s)	February 1981
Running time	104 minutes 170 min (Italian original cut)
Country	Italy
Language	Italian

Il minestrone is a 1981 Italian comedy film directed by Sergio Citti. It was entered into the 31st Berlin International Film Festival.

Plot

Francis and John, two tramps the outskirts of Rome, forced to rummage through the trash forever in search of food, meet and make friends, to a misunderstanding is arrested and locked up in the security cell of the police station which is held in The Master, a beggar, specialized in running away from restaurants, taverns and eateries in the capital after having gorged without paying. Released, the three come together late in the evening and go to a restaurant where, at the end of a memorable binge (tagliatelle, tripe with tomato sauce, oxtail, asparagus, mozzarella with tomatoes, lamb with potatoes), can a clever shot genius to cheat the owner Attilio; running fall into a puddle cold and smelly that makes them reject everything. Refuge in a cattle car to shelter from a shower, fall asleep and wake up to find themselves in un'imprecisata town in Tuscany, and then begin to wander in the countryside of Poggibonsi (Siena). You try to scrounge food before elderly Beatrice, but it does not even knowing how to feed seven children living with her, she is forced to sacrifice his old turtle, and subsequently they come across a restaurant whose owners are two of the frantic hunters, accustomed to serve the customers only after satisfying their comfortable (meal included) and, moreover, take their dog chained up like a waiter, forcing him to make the pitcher plates. The latter is released by the three friends, who then decide to leave the restaurant without eating, sensing the danger of being caught and shot, and after wandering again, they risk being lynched by a group of laborers, after being caught eating the soup at their table and punishment tied around a pole. Left alone, they are freed from the waiter who had just saved, who joins them, the latter, too hungry leads them in an old inn, but when they arrive they have the bad surprise to see it turned into an agency funeral home, improvising even gravediggers.

The next day, realize that a man who is about to commit suicide, and save him just in time. After an initial skirmish, the suicide joins them with family: it is a failed industrial, went from wealth to poverty, he leads the group in the house of his father, an avid Marquis initially humiliates him in front of everyone refusing help, and then riaccoglie at home after forcing him to abandon his wife and children to their fate. The search for food continues, and the group join other strange characters, such as those that are strange in their path. After a sumptuous and surreal "lunch imaginary", the group finds a strange box on a beach, containing gelatin, eating greedily. But it is only a product to guard a missile, which in fact at one point the roar of the box. Avvelenatisi for the ingestion of synthetic, group members are admitted to a clinic, where they meet a holy man (Gaber), who convinces them to follow him. But he is not of sound mind, and it takes them quite by chance on a mountain pass, where the orchestra performs Tyrolean leitmotif of the film (directed by Nicola Piovani), when browsing titles tail.

Cast

• Roberto Benigni - Il maestro
• Franco Citti - Francesco
• Ninetto Davoli - Giovanni
• Daria Nicolodi - Moglie di Gildo
• Fabio Traversa - Il cameriere
• Francesca Rinaldi - Figlioletta di Gildo
• Olimpia Carlisi - Becchina, venditrice di bare
• Giorgio Gaber - Il profeta
• Franco Iavarone - Gildo (as Franco Javarone)
• Carlo Monni
• Daniela Piperno

External links

• Il minestrone at the Internet Movie Database