Bread and Chocolate, an Italian film directed by Franco Brusati in 1974, is a true, bittersweet comedy about an Italian bungling immigrant-worker who at the time lives in Switzerland. This is a black and white, comic but poignant, portrait of a man caught between two worlds forced to work odd jobs. Not suited for the society he aspires to, he's also unable to return to the world from which he came. In episode after episode his Italian heritage is comically as well as touchingly contrasted with the surrounding Helvetics. Nino throughout the film is desperately seeking to fit in. A flawed, not quite mature though likable character, Nino himself is also responsible for his travails. Nino goes to the land of chocolate to do better than his impoverished existence in Italy. The film becomes a satire of both the Swiss and the Italians. In ways that sometimes are a bit surreal, we get a series of hilarious happenings, often much exaggerated, and at points even gross. Manfredi's ambition is to attain a nice, respectable job as a waiter. Although seemingly not successful, he does manage to get a butlering job to a weird man, but it does not last long. The man in which of whom Nino trusts and invests with, learns his wife is no longer in love with him and soon becomes a selfish victim of his own depression. After this it's one thing after another. Nino comes across a family working and literally living on a chicken farm. The family is sure to welcome him into their coup and Nino gets a real taste of his own culture. Nino is not so quick to disregard any connection with his blood and after a hilarious confrontation is soon off again to search for his work. Though his work becomes increasingly degrading, he tenaciously refuses to give up and go home. Nino comes across many different people that all touch his soul in some way or another. The film is built on energetically directed gut humor, and there is plenty of it in this movie. Co...
