"Wellcome to the Land of Shtis" (2008), is a funny film wich was directed and stared by Danny Boon. Most of the film set in Bergues, a small village at the North of France, although a few scenes was filmed in Paris. It's a big French comedy which shows us the stereotypes from lands in the North of France: the bad weather, village manners, different speaking habits.
Because of several problem in his job, Philippe Abrams (stared by Kad Merad) who is a postal service manager in Paris, is sent to work to the Lands of the North. That supposes the worst thing for him and his family. So, he decides to go there alone, while his family is in Paris. The stars of the film are famous French actors and actress.
The film starts showing how a postal service manager is moved to Bergues to go on working, because he tried to cheat a work test to improve in his job. Bergues is famous for its bad weather, it has a different way of speaking (in spite of being in France), people are rude. First, Philippe feels frustrated, he only goes back to Paris twice a month, later, he finds out that people are generous, kind, charming and finally, he even prefers to stay in Bergues than go to see his family at weekend.
I strongly recommend this film because, although the film wasn't shot in special locations, and the soundtrack, costumes and special effects aren't important, but is shows us how much the value of friendship can be in our lives. The film was nominated for important European awards. Any sequel was filmed later, but a few years later, an adaptation was shoot with the same plot but the setting was in the South of Italy, though the result wasn't as successful as the original version.
