Italy: Love It, or Leave It (2011)

Directed by: Gustav Hofer, Luca Ragazzi | 75 minutes | documentary

Two Italians on a road trip through their own country in an old Fiat 500. Looking for reasons to stay in their homeland, when so many of their friends have already emigrated. In the opening scene we see them packing: they are going to move. After six years they leave Rome. But whither?

Gustav would prefer to leave for Berlin; he sees little good in Italy. The position of ordinary employees, politics, the way in which the rich history and nature are dealt with: he can no longer stand it. Luca tries to convince him that there is still plenty in Italy that is beautiful and clean and good. They make a deal: for six months we will travel criss-cross the country, looking for people and their stories, special places and trying to find out what makes Italy Italy. Why, for example, does George Clooney buy a house there, while so many Italians find themselves in hopeless and rather hopeless situations? Can Luca convince him? Were they packing to emigrate? Or will they just live in another place in Italy? Or only within Rome itself?

In the fascinating documentary ‘Italy: Love It, or Leave It’, sprinkled with biting humor, the two explore what makes their country so special. The viewer can enjoy their observations from the front row. Gustav and Luca form a couple that complement each other perfectly: the down-to-earth Northerner Gustav Hofer, born in South Tyrol, and the busy, chaotic Luca Ragazzi, born and raised Roman. Gustav speaks German as his mother tongue and studied communication sciences in Vienna and film sciences in London. Because of his strange accent, other Italians often think that he is a foreigner. Luca studied philosophy and literature in Rome. Their previous documentary was also their first: ‘Suddenly, Last Winter’ – a film that won many awards at international film festivals. That documentary focused on gay rights in Italy, set against the rhetoric of some political parties.

In ‘Italy: Love It or Leave It’ their vision is broader and they find one situation after another that screams to be tackled. Some things can even be called downright scandalous. Without wanting to be specific and not reveal anything, it is striking how corruption and indifference ensure that parts of a society barely function. It gives the foreign viewer (and who knows many Italians who are not or hardly aware of this) a lot of food for thought that this is possible in a modern, civilized and apparently so prosperous country. The segments of the road trip are strung together by simple, but effective animations, regularly supplemented with old film images. The commentary is by Luca and often quite sarcastic, but paradoxically at the same time quite cheerful. The tone ensures that the documentary never becomes too dejected, but it creates a nice balance.

‘Italy: Love It or Leave It’ is a must for anyone who loves Italy. Perhaps that love is no longer as blind and unconditional as it used to be – what do you see as a tourist who comes maybe three weeks at most from the real life of another country? – but probably with as much love as Gustav and Luca have themselves.