A World Apart
After 40 years of teaching in the metropolitan jungle of Rome, primary school teacher Michele Cortese moves to an idyllic village in the heart of the Abruzzo National Park, population 1800, to teach at a tiny school with only a handful of students aged seven to ten. He quickly has trouble adjusting to the local culture to entertaining results but gradually adapts, thanks to the school's friendly vice-principal Agnese and its spirited pupils.
DIRECTOR
Riccardo Milani
actors
1h 53m • Rated M • Comedy-Drama • Italy
Antonio Albanese • Virginia Raffaele • Sergio Saltarelli • Alessandra Barbonetti • Solidea Pistilli
Populations in ancient villages are decreasing all over Italy. Thus, Michele and Agnese are thrust into a race against time to save the school and their way of life. Filmed in the beautiful Abruzzi National Park with professional actors and non-actors working seamlessly together, it is a heartfelt, funny, and uplifting story exploring the power of education, community and persistence. Antonio Albanese and Virginia Raffaele are household names in Italy, and this charming little film was a surprise box office hit in Italy. Paolo Rotondo
CRITICS ROUNDUP
A warm, humanist crowd-pleaser
After 40 years of teaching in gritty, urban Rome, Michele (Antonio Albanese) is transferred to a tiny village in the heart of the Abruzzi Mountains, a place where wolves roam the snowy countryside, where he wishes to engage with every student in the school. However he struggles to adjust to small-town culture until he finds his feet with Principal Agnese’s (Virginia Raffaele) help. But soon he learns that the school’s diminishing numbers threatens its very existence.