Benigni e Troisi
Non ci resta che piangere

THE REVIEW

That is what many would have thought back in the distant June of 1994: we have no choice but to cry.... Troisi had left us, leaving not only an unfillable void but also a substantial legacy perhaps never picked up. Let's console ourselves by thinking that thanks to films like these, the memory of his talent will always remain alive.

In 1984, one of the happiest artistic marriages Italian cinema remembers was defined: the irreverent and lively Benigni and the introverted and melancholic (or "melancolic"?) Troisi decided to make a film together. Out of it came this "Non ci resta che piangere". The plot is very simple: an elementary school teacher (Benigni) and a janitor from the same school (Troisi) suddenly find themselves catapulted to 1492 following a violent storm. Initially, they feel like victims of a bad joke, but later it is only Benigni who accepts the new reality and convinces his friend to embark on a long journey to Palos in Andalusia to stop Christopher Columbus and prevent him from discovering America (precisely that America that handed him the OSCARS!!!).
The irresistible gags are countless: the preacher who reminds Troisi that one day he will die, the letter written to Savonarola clearly paying homage to Totò and Peppino, and especially the meeting with Leonardo Da Vinci (the lawyer of Johnny Stecchino) where they pretend to be fellow scientists to explain some inventions of our era. Despite their incomprehensible explanations and after being ridiculed, Leonardo later invents the train, deluding the two protagonists into thinking they have returned to the 1900s.

The film may have flaws from a directorial point of view, but the comedy and complementarity of the two great actors are such that one can overlook it. For those who haven't seen it, laughter guaranteed!!!