A Steady Job

IL POSTO

Italy, France, 2022, 75' 

Every month, hundreds of unemployed nurses travel from the south to the north of Italy in search of a permanent job; they leave to take a hopefully life-changing nursing exam that would allow achieving the sought-after economic stability. The positions available are actually very few; many will come back empty-handed, and will try their luck again later on. Two of these aspiring nurses have momentarily shelved their dreams and now organize overnight bus travels, an updated version of the journeys of hope that marked the first large Italian migration from the south to the north of the country.

Colombo’s and Matarrese’s film follows one of these lengthy itineraries and, along the way, tells the stories of those who expectantly get on board; those who leave their little children at home to be cared for; those who have understood that work is a sort of lottery and can’t help but play along. What emerges is a cruel and bitter portrait, with moments of fun, and sometimes amusing like its characters, of an impossible and yet persistent migration – an apparent move, in search of a dreamed but no less true life.