Benvenuti al Sud, or Welcome to the South, is a movie focused on the themes of prejudice and love. More lighthearted than any of the films we've watched in class yet, the film follows a bumbling post office manager who is transferred to a Southern post office, a place who's stereotypes have chilled him and his wife to the bone. The manager, Alberto, has his prejudices proven wrong by Mattia, a post office worker who he befriends and eventually assists with his love life.
I felt that the most significant relationship that I noticed in Welcome to the South was that of Alberto and Mattia. Given that the two of them are the most prevalent characters in the film, it is inevitable that their relationship would be a chief focal point for the plot of the film. The aspects of their relationship that I felt were the most significant, however, was the role of Alberto as a mentor and brother/father figure to Mattia, a man who's pampering by his mother has led him to be less confident in his daily dealings, as well as his romantic relationships. Alberto takes Mattia under his wing, spending a day taking his delivery route for the post office with him, teaching him how to stand up for himself when his customers ask him to come in for coffee. Further on, he convinces him to stand up for himself and break free of his mother's doting, earning the respect of his love interest Maria. Alberto sees potential in the young Mattia, and wishes to help him grow as a person. Later on in the film, while talking to his wife Silvia, he compares himself and her to the young Maria and Mattia, who have just gotten engaged in front of them, asking Silvia if she remembered when the two of them were young like Maria and Mattia. Alberto also sees some of himself in Mattia, as well as some of his wife in Maria, and wishes to set them on the right path so they don't have the same troubles that he and Silvia experienced and resolved during the film.
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