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Best movies to learn Italian
Watching Italian movies to learn Italian is one of the best exercises you can do to integrate language learning. This article selected the 10 best movies to learn Italian, chosen from different movie genres.
Taking the time to see Italian movies is one of the most useful tools for learning Italian. There are several reasons why you should make watching italian movies an integral part of your Italian study program.
Everybody has some of the most iconic movie quotes printed in her/his memory. This happens because the movies are multi-sensorial and engaging. The emotions aroused by watching a movie promote memory and learning. Why not taking advantage of this natural propensity of the brain for learning foreign languages?
You’ve probably heard of “learning through play” or “playful learning”, the principle that we learn best when we are playing and are relaxed.
Relaxation makes us more receptive to new information and promotes the memorization of what we learn in this state.
Movies also provide the visual context for language learning. While watching movies to learn Italian, you see how the language animates the interactions of the characters. You can relate hand gestures, facial and body expressions to everyday speech.
Watching movies in Italian gives you access to a rather varied set of contexts, topics and stories that you would not otherwise have experienced.
Regardless of its genre, a movie can face very different contexts.
You can therefore freely choose the Italian movie you prefer, regardless of one genre over another. Any movie, from animation to documentary, can become a language lesson.
A single scene can contain vocabulary, phrases and idiomatic expressions to note down and that you can gradually insert into your daily conversations.
Now that we have seen the benefits of movies for learning Italian, let’s see how to choose the right movies.
We have only one golden rule … Choose the movie you like best!
There are several schools of thought with respect to watching original language movies for effective learning.
There are those who advise against subtitles in their mother tongue and those who even avoid subtitles in Italian.
The choice, in this case, depends on the level of knowledge of the Italian language. It is difficult to suggest one movie per level because the movies are authentic materials, designed for a native speaker audience that presents different situations within two hours.
Assuming that to make watching a movie in the original version a pleasant and relaxing experience, we need to understand at least 70% of what is happening. We don’t need to understand every word and grasp every nuance to enjoy watching a good movie. But if we like it, we will want to see it again and again and grasp every aspect.
This is why we have selected 10 movies to learn Italian, ranging from romance, sports, drama, documentaries to animation movies.
10 Italian movies to learn Italian!
L’incredibile storia dell’Isola delle Rose (Rose Island), 2020 – comedy
Based on real events, the movie tells how an idealistic engineer found himself creating an independent microstate off the coast of Rimini in the 1960s.
Giorgio Rosa, a Bolognese engineer with a misunderstood talent, gives life to the “Esperanto Republic of Isola delle Rose” on the few square meters of an artificial platform designed by himself. The “island” outside the Italian territorial waters attracts a series of eccentric and offbeat characters.
Veloce come il vento (Italian Race), 2016 – dramatic
Giulia De Martino comes from a family of pilots. At the age of seventeen, she too takes part in the GT Championship, under the guidance of her father Mario.
One day everything changes and Giulia has to face the racetrack and life alone. The unexpected return of his brother Loris, a former driver with drug addiction problems, will force them to work together. An intimate and familiar movie about racing car drivers largely inspired by a true story.
Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot (They Call Me Jeeg), 2015 – action
Due to a daring accident, Enzo Ceccotti, a petty criminal, acquires superhuman strength. Introverted, closed and problematic, Enzo takes advantage of his new powers for petty crimes, unaware of the escalation of events that awaits him. A series of meetings will lead him to change. A very unconventional action and superhero movie.
Comedians, 2021 – choral
Six people, exhausted and tired by their unsatisfactory and precarious life, aspire to become comedians. At the end of an evening stand-up comedy class, the six characters must finally take to the stage. The best of them will be chosen for a television program by a talent scout for whom comedy is above all entertainment and escapism. Aspiring comedians will try to resolve the dichotomy between television needs and the received teaching.
We are the thousand – the incredible story of Rockin’1000 (2020) – documentary
The story of a mega concert, one of a kind, through live images and the testimonies of those who organized and created it.
Rockin’1000 is a gathering of a thousand people, including amateur singers and musicians, to perform Learn to Fly by the Foo Fighters and convince them to play in Romagna. An exciting and engaging story, not just for music lovers.
La pazza gioia (Like Crazy), 2016- road movie
Donatella and Beatrice are two women with completely opposite characters and histories who share suffering and uneasiness. They know each other in a community and decide to flee to ‘darsi alla pazza gioia’, go wild.
Through the various stages of their ramshackle journey, the two protagonists try to get out of the protected isolation of the community, dealing with disappointments and the acceptance of themselves.
Call me by your name, 2017 – sentimental
Based on the famous novel by André Aciman, the movie tells the discovery of love and a deep friendship, set in the lower Po Valley during the hot summer of 1983. The Perlman family spends the summers in the family home in Crema, where they host a new pupil of the father every year. Elio, the 17-year-old son and Oliver, the young graduate student, will cultivate an overwhelming and profound bond between long walks, swims and discussions.
La famosa invasione degli orsi in Sicilia (The Bears’ Famous Invasion of Sicily), 2019 – animation
Leontius, the Great King of the bears, decides to go from the mountains to the valley, in search of food and his son Tonio. Thanks to his army and the help of a magician, he will be able to establish himself in the society of men. However, King Lontius will soon have to face the consequences of this coexistence. The movie is the adaptation of the novel by Dino Buzzati.
The place (2017) – fantasy
A mysterious man sits at the same table in a restaurant day and night. No one knows his true identity, but his visitors know that he can fulfill their innermost desires. “It can be done” he repeats to each one. The asking price is to carry out the merciless, cruellest, or just plain absurd tasks that he assigns to them.
The Italian movie is the adaptation of an American TV series that looks like a theatre play.
Odio l’estate (I hate summer), 2020 – comedian
Despite the title, the movie celebrates Italian summer holidays made up of road trips, little football matches on the beach and guitar strumming around the bonfire.
Three very different families find themselves sharing the same house due to a booking error. The protagonists are the famous comic trio composed by Aldo, Giovanni and Giacomo, among the most popular and appreciated Italian comedians.