Arrivano i prof (2018)

The Alessandro Manzoni State Scientific High School is at risk of closure, as it is the worst high school in Italy, with only 12% of its students passing and graduating. To save the school from closure, Montini, an education ministry superintendent, makes one last attempt to get at least 50% of the students to pass. He decides to recruit as teachers—forcing them on principal Carlo De Sanctis—the seven professors considered the worst in Italy, derisively nicknamed “the Seven Samurai.” Each has their own unorthodox teaching method: Mario Locuratolo teaches mathematics; he is a very intelligent hippie with a passion for video games, but also extremely lazy. Gaetano Fanfulla teaches science; he is a reckless chemist who says little. Sandra Melis teaches English; she is very short-tempered and has the unpleasant habit of throwing objects at students who get her questions wrong. Amina Venturi teaches Italian; she is a very sensual young woman. Davide Golia teaches physical education; he is a hulking man with a passion for extreme sports. Eliseo Maurizi teaches philosophy; he is a calm individual who simply cannot make himself understood. Antonio Cioncoloni, a recent graduate who was raised on the myth of Caesar, teaches history. At the school, we also meet some of the students, including Luca Pagliarulo, an unmotivated boy intent on enjoying life and having fun, and Camilla Brandolini, a serious, diligent girl who has just arrived at the school. As might be expected, the teachers’ bizarre methods do not achieve the hoped-for success, and, almost at the end of the second term, a mock exam ends with the disastrous result of only 4% passing. At this point, principal De Sanctis investigates the teachers and discovers that superintendent Montini has deceived him: he sent the seven teachers specifically to get Manzoni closed. Montini wants all the students who attend Manzoni, or intend to enroll there, to go instead to a private school he founded in an area near the high school. The private school offers virtual instruction delivered by famous actors. Desperate, the principal attempts suicide, but some of the teachers save him. He tells them everything; the seven educators had no idea they were considered the worst of the worst, so they decide to go to the ministry to steal the scientific high school-leaving exam papers. Meanwhile, as Luca tries to throw a desk down the stairs, he is caught by the strict vice principal, Professor Fabbri. Fabbri goes into a small room to write up a report and report the boy, but there he discovers the seven teachers’ plan written on a blackboard and alerts the principal. To prevent their plan from being exposed, however, the principal locks Fabbri in the same room so he cannot alert the police. De Sanctis also arranges to cut off the cell-phone signal, preventing Fabbri from contacting the outside world. The school janitor frees Fabbri only after the weekend, after he has subsisted on leftover pizzas the teachers ordered earlier. Fabbri then rushes to send a fax to the education authority requesting Luca’s expulsion, convinced that Luca locked him in the room as a prank. Meanwhile, the teachers return after stealing the exam papers, but it turns out that, by mistake, the seven of them stole the papers for the lower-secondary school-leaving exams. So, after giving the students an encouraging speech, the teachers begin intensively preparing them for the regular exams. During the exam, superintendent Montini tries every possible way to disrupt the students, and the result is that only 10 out of 21 pass, a percentage below the stipulated 50%. That same day, however, the education authority sends confirmation of the fax Vice Principal Fabbri had sent to have Luca expelled. The time recorded on the fax—because the plug had been disconnected and reconnected that day—confirms that Luca should not have sat the exam. Luca, who deliberately failed in order to help Camilla, whom he has fallen in love with, is therefore not counted among the students who took the exam. With Luca excluded from the tally, the pass rate reaches 50%, and the school is saved. In a scene after the credits, a group of students is seen trying to steal the exam papers from the ministry by threatening the caretaker, who is playing cards with the superintendent, now ruined and reduced to an ordinary employee because his plan and the private school he founded have failed.