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Batisti is a proud but poor peasant who wants a better life
for his young son. He sends the boy to a school which is quite
a long walk away. Wearing his only pair of wooden clogs, the
child makes the long trek to class every day on foot. All
is well until the clogs are damaged. Wood is scarce, as is
money, so Batisti sneaks onto their rich landlord's grove
to "borrow" the wood to make a new pair. But when
his crime is discovered the rich man decides to make an example
of Batisti and his family...
The
Tree of Wooden Clogs (L'Albero
Degli Zoccoli) is a 1978 Italian film which was written and
directed by Ermanno Olmi.
The
movie shows a year in the life
of a group of peasants in northern Italy near the turn of
the 20th century. The story is simple (basically the synopsis
above is the entire plot) but the film, which is nearly three
hours in length, really spends a lot of time introducing the
viewer to what the environment is like and slowly letting
us into the lives of a group of peasant farmers. In some respects
it has a documentary feel to it. The film shows a farming
cycle and weaves the lives of the main characters into this.
There
are a couple of uncomfortable scenes where the farmers slaughter
animals for food, but on the whole this is a beautiful film
that really captures the bleakness of the main characters.
While
some could argue that this movie is a little long in duration
and that it would have been simple to cut at least an hour
and a half out of the movie, as most of it shows the workers
toiling in the fields and generally going about their daily
chores. But, this is the heart of the movie. For the movie's
duration the viewer gets to see all four seasons and the hard
work that the peasants have to endure to make ends meet.
The
only extra on the disc is a 14 minute interview with the director.
This was from an Italian TV interview in which the interviewer
is more interested in the sound of his own voice than actually
letting Olmi talk about his film. There are a number of long
clips from the movie, which take up a little too much time.
The sound is also incredible quiet.
The
Tree of Wooden Clogs is a beautiful movie, but not one that
will appeal to everyone.
Nick
Smithson
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