Stephanie,

Thanks for your comment. It's nice to know that someone actually reads these reviews of mine.

You're right that Nord Pas-de-Calais is not really northeast. It's dead north.

My description of the accent sounding like 'drunk French' is actually played out in the film itself. In the first scene when Kad Merad's character comes to Bergues, he thinks Dany Boon's character is drunk, when he's not (though he is drunk in several other scenes, and there isn't much difference in his accent in these scenes and the others).

As far as whether or not people from Nord Pas-de-Calais call themselves Ch'tis or not, well, in the film, they do. The very name of the film indicates that. I don't doubt your historical reference to the fact that it was the English who originally called them Ch'tis, just as it was the English who first called (derogatorily, of course) northeastern Americans "Yankees". This term now, though, is used by people from the northeast themselves, just as I believe Ch'tis now call themselves Ch'tis, which is what I said in the article.

Regarding your friends' comments on why they liked the film, I really have nothing to say about that, as I didn't talk to them, but I still believe my point is valid, that people, from France, from the US, from wherever, do feel strong ties to their native regions, just as you obviously do. And I think this universal sentiment is represented well in the film. And this has not as much to do with ethnicity as it does just a love of the land from where you come. There are plenty of African Americans, for example, from Atlanta who love Atlanta, though it is not their 'ethnic' home. For that matter, white Americans aren't 'ethnically' from Washington, DC, or Cleveland, Ohio, either.

Your last sentence bothers me a little: I hope you did not mean to imply that I look down on Ch'tis. If anything, I believe my review champions a healthy pride in one's origins. And while I did not think Bienvenue was the greatest film ever, I did like it for what it was, a somewhat funny, well-scripted film where I learned something about a region of France I've never had the pleasure of visiting, and I have an ever-deepening appreciation for the French people, their culture, traditions and their roots.

Thanks for the very thoughtful comments, and I look forward to future dialogue with you about other films in the future.

-Stephen