This film is a brilliant comedy that works by taking a real problem and drawing a caricature of it through film. Now, what do I mean by this? I mean that the film is taking a somewhat believable situation that some people might relate to and taking it to an absurd level. The film follows a protagonist that is working at a university as a researcher, but ends up getting kicked out. Long story short, he gets together a "gang" of other failed academics together and they form a large drug dealing ring where they make an absurd amount of money. This idea is funny in of itself due to the absurdity of it, but knowing the context of Italy and academics at the time makes it a brilliant film.
Many people in Italy would often pursue PhDs in order to become a professor at a university. The problem is that due to the current political climate it was very difficult to get a job at a university. As a result many highly educated individuals would not be able to pursue a job in their field and would end up working menial jobs or be poor. The protagonist in the film ends up getting a similar fate, and turns to the drug dealing to make ends meet. This also makes a comment about the human condition.
The comment that it makes about the human condition is that people may do things that go against their morals if they are desperate. The drastic things that people will do when their back against the wall would surprise many. The entire cast of main characters were all in poor situations in life that they hated and wanted desperately to get out of. They all seem to mutually agree way too fast that selling smart drugs is the best path out of their situations, even though they are all people with doctorate degrees. This is ironic and absurd and makes the film work as a comedy. Overall, this film is brilliant because it makes a comment about both the state of academics in Italy and the human condition at the same time.
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