In Ciao Professore, I found that all the issues were kind of tied together. Things like education, poverty, work conditions, and corruption all had something to do with each other. The town the teacher is sent to it obviously poor, and the kids are needed to work to help support their families. I think if one thing was fixed in the town, like poverty, everything would follow suit. The town would afford better education and get the kids off the streets and out of work.Without poverty, there would be no need for Mimi the janitor to run the school, charging prices on basic school supplies so the school can actually get money.
This film is clearly tragic because we see children living in poverty with little education. We see these kids working to support and take care of their families instead of going to school. Some are even joining gangs to have something. But what makes it funny is seeing the kids act so adult for their age. For instance, the kids start swearing at each other when they get mad. They’re able to come up with some pretty aggressive curses for third graders.
Since we haven’t seen the whole film yet, I can’t give a full answer to question three. Marco Sperelli is trying to change the school in very subtle ways. It’s almost like he trying to slowly take over from Mimi. He goes to the principal for her to help, but she basically supports Mimi. So Marco is trying to take over small things, like ringing the bell when Mimi is on the phone.
When he talks to the principal about the conditions of the school, he learns that the government will not send them money. He learns that since the government is not supporting them, they need to make do with how they are now, and they both need to deal with it.
I was really appalled when the children had to pay Mimi for toilet paper. TOILET-PAPER! Chalk wasn't as a big deal, toilet-paper just seems like a necessity. I agree that solving the poverty issue will defiantly fix many of the other issues in town. Aren't school supplies supposed to be handled by the state? So does the state simply favor the north above the impoverished south?
ReplyDeleteI also saw how the children had very adult-like personalities and believe that this is partly due to the fact that they are entrusted with adult jobs, be they making money for the family, or taking care of younger siblings while the adult works. Once again, all these problems could be solved if only the city had a little more money with which they could provide better jobs to the people, and better education to the children.
Hi Ashlee and John - the state gives money to the South but forces of corruption deviate the money so that it does not go where it was intended. It's sad. RD
ReplyDeleteI've already seen the whole film so I can tell you that even though Mimi is a horriblly opportunistic individual I think that the villain of the film is more along the lines of society itself, not just poverty society but the corrupt forces that make it so the mayor allows children to work and principals allow people like Mimi to be employed which is just too ridiculous to comprehend.
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