Bread and Chocolate
| Bread and Chocolate (Pane e cioccolata) | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover | |
| Directed by | Franco Brusati |
| Written by | Franco Brusati Jaja Fiastri Nino Manfredi |
| Produced by | Maurizio Lodi-Fe Turi Vasile |
| Starring | Nino Manfredi Johnny Dorelli Anna Karina |
| Cinematography | Luciano Tovoli |
| Edited by | Mario Morra |
| Music by | Daniele Patucchi |
| Distributed by | Cinéma International Corporation |
Release dates | 1974 (Italy, France) July 14, 1978 (USA) |
Running time | 111 minutes[1] |
| Country | Italy |
| Languages | Italian German English |
Bread and Chocolate (Template:Lang-it) is a 1974 Italian comedy-drama film directed by Franco Brusati. This film chronicles the misadventures of an Italian immigrant to Switzerland and is representative of the commedia all'italiana film genre.
Plot
Like many southern Europeans of the period (1960s to early 1970s), Nino Garofalo (Nino Manfredi) is a migrant "guest worker" from Ciociaria, working as a waiter in Switzerland. He loses his work permit when he is caught urinating in public, so he begins to lead a clandestine life in Switzerland. At first he is supported by Elena, a Greek woman and political refugee. Then he befriends an Italian industrialist, relocated to Switzerland because of financial problems. The industrialist takes him under his wing, only to commit suicide when he squanders his last savings. Nino is constrained to find shelter with a group of clandestine Neapolitans living in a chicken coop, together with the same chickens they tend to in order to survive. Charmed by the idyllic vision of a group of young blonde Swisses, having a bath in a river, he decides to dye his hair and pass himself off as a local. In a bar, when rooting for the Italian national football team during the broadcast of a match, he is found out after celebrating a goal scored by Fabio Capello. He is arrested and brought at a station. He meets Elena again, who wants to give him a renewed permit but he refuses. He embarks on a train and finds himself in a cabin filled with returning Italian guest workers. Amid the songs of "sun" and "sea", he is seen having second thoughts. He gets off at the first stop: better life as an illegal immigrant than a life of misery.
Cast
- Nino Manfredi as Nino Garofalo
- Johnny Dorelli as Italian Industrialist
- Anna Karina as Elena
- Paolo Turco as Gianni
- Ugo D'Alessio as Old Man
- Tano Cimarosa as Giacomo
- Gianfranco Barra as The Turk
- Giorgio Cerioni as Police Inspector
- Francesco D'Adda as Rudiger
- Geoffrey Copleston as Boegli
- Federico Scrobogna as Grigory
- Max Delys as Renzo
- Umberto Raho as Maitre
- Nelide Giammarco as The Blonde
- Manfred Freyberger as The Sportman
Awards
- The film won several international awards including the Silver Bear at the 24th Berlin International Film Festival in 1974.[2]
- New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Language Film 1978
References
- ^ Canby, Vincent (July 14, 1978), "Movie Review — Pane e Cioccolata (1973)", The New York Times, retrieved December 24, 2009
- ^ "Berlinale 1974: Prize Winners". berlinale.de. Retrieved 2010-07-04.