The story is, anyhow, hard to misunderstand: it is the tragic story of a poor Italian immigrant in wealthy, picture-perfect Switzerland. Nino is a man who needs a permanent visa in order to be able to bring his wife and son to his new adopted country. He has worked for three year as a “guest worker” (Gastarbeiter) and now needs his big break. The initial scene of the movie is a pearl and sets the tone for the whole film. Nino walks in a city park on his day off; the park, like the whole country, is pure perfection…A sunny day (rare in Switzerland, to be honest), sailboats floating on the peaceful lake, beautiful children playing quietly, picnics and picnic baskets from which picture-perfect food is extracted, birds chirping, even a string quartet playing live music for the picnickers. Here comes Nino, transfixed by the harmonious spectacle of this wonderful society. Happy to be part of this beauty, dressed out of respect in his best suit and a tie, he sits under a tree to enjoy the peace, pulls out a sandwich from his pocket, and bites….this makes a rather heavy crunch…and, suddenly, the music stops, the musicians are looking at him puzzled, a lady holding a cake turns to him with a rather stern expression; bottom line, the whole park stops and lets him know politely that he does not belong.
Poor Nino does his best as a temporary waiter: he is set to compete with a Turkish man for the only permanent job available. What follows are the comical adventures of the two in the restaurant, trying to look good in front of the owner and make their adversary look bad. To be perverse, the employer has arranged a joint apartment (or rather a single dilapidated room) for the two men to share.
The movie has many funny aspects to it as well as a lot of truth. The ending where he died his hair blonde to fit in in Germany was quite comical.
I think another thing worth mentioning is that Nino is having this "perfect" day in the park, enjoying the beauty that is Switzerland, trying to play ball with a sweet little boy, when the ball is suddenly lost in the woods. When he goes to retrieve it, Nino discovers the body of a young girl. I think this is a good symbol of how Nino is essentially "lost." He is trying his best to fit in with society, but the society is against him. They all have this stereotypical idea of him and are unwilling to wavier in their views. It is only after dying his hair that he begins to feel excepted. Yet, he really didn't change anything about himself. He is still an Italian. Just a blonde one.
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