gomulch If all the film-festival awards this movie has won haven't convinced you to see it, then my review probably will not either. Regardless, it is important to know how well-done this movie truly is. Nino Manfredi does an absolutely stellar performance as a poor Italian immigrant trying to fit in in a world which dislikes him and his kind. From the start, this seems like a regular enjoyable comedy, but quickly transitions into both a comedy and a drama. On the one-hand, Manfredi's Chaplinesque "loveable loser" character is both endearing and hilarious. On the other hand, the film offers true insight into the problem of immigrational bias and cultural dissimilarity, and a stabbing insight into the premise of a national identity; how it is both meaningless and yet extremely important. This film deserves every award it received and then some.

michelerealini For the Italian cinema this is an important film. Not only because there's a big actor -Nino Manfredi- but because it's based on real situations of the time it was made...In the Sixties and Seventies Italian and Spanish workers were the biggest immigrant groups in Switzerland. "Pane e cioccolata" talks about the experiences and difficulties of an Italian waiter in this country. Of course, some situations are caricatural, nevertheless the movie still keeps its strength because everything it's credible.Manfredi's character wants to remain in Switzerland because he believes he can make enough money to help his family, he dreams of carrying there wife and children and giving them a better life. We laugh a lot, at the same time there's much sadness because we see someone who tries everything to integrate in another society, without success.A bittersweet comedy, Italians are among the best moviemakers for mixing different feelings and talking about life.

Gerald A. DeLuca (Some spoilers) This was a very popular film when it was first shown in America in 1978, about five years after its Italian release, and was probably one of the best-known and liked Italian film among the general public in America, along with LA DOLCE VITA, CINEMA PARADISO, and LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL. It was directed by Franco Brusati, and this may be his best achievement. This immensely famous bittersweet comedy stars Nino Manfredi as a Chaplinesque immigrant waiter, Nino, trying desperately to assimilate among the cool and methodical Swiss. His presence in the country is as a temporary worker and much of his time is spent trying to stay afloat and to avoid deportation. Right from the start the film captures the pain and confusion of the outsider with incisive precision, as when he is denounced for public urination.There are many great scenes. One is when Nino finds employment in a chicken farm and lives among a family of eccentrics who find the impersonation of chickens to be the highest of mankind's callings. Another scene, in which Nino watches a group of Swiss youth bathing in a lake and looking like gods in some kind of sensual Valhalla, encapsulates his feelings of inferiority and alienation. An Italian worker "drag show", funny and sad, is performed by these men that have left behind friends and family in "sunny Italy", to return only at Easter and Christmas. Another great moment occurs when Nino modifies his appearance to attempt to look more north-European, and cannot help but revert to his Italian persona when the locals cheer on the Swiss soccer team and he vociferously applauds an Italian goal.Nino Manfredi rarely had a better role than this one, and Anna Karina, with whom he is tentatively in love, is fine as Elena, the Greek teacher-in-exile with a musical-prodigy of a young son. Johnny Dorelli is memorable as the wealthy Italian industrialist who befriends Nino, but who overdoses when confronted with financial ruin, taking with him some of Nino's own money. Bad luck dogs our hero, but he seems to emerge from the tunnel of despair with renewed hope…and literally so at the film's end.The term "Bread and Chocolate" in Italian refers to a snack of Nutella spread on bread and is the equivalent of "peaches and cream" or "fine and dandy," which is used with irony here in this great "commedia all'italiana."

orbanei Bread and Chocolate is a very humanistic movie that mixes funny with sadness. The way the Brusati shows us the way foreign people are welcome to Switzerland is somehow not the saddest way but in addition it has some humor. This makes the audience, like people said before, cry and laugh at the same time. It can also be based on a real person and not fictitious as people like Nino would do anything to stay in a country where they have opportunities. Excellent job for Brusati, it is the first Brusati film I have seen and I am looking forward to see another one.