L'albero degli zoccoli (1978)

Director:

Ermanno Olmi

Writer:

Ermanno Olmi (written by)

Release Date:

1 June 1979 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History

Plot:

The life inside a farm in Italy at the beginning of the century. Many poor country families live there...

Plot Keywords:

School | Money | Italy | Farm | Snowing

Awards:

14 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Luigi Ornaghi	...	Batistì
Francesca Moriggi	...	Batistina
Omar Brignoli	...	Minec
Antonio Ferrari	...	Tuni
Teresa Brescianini	...	Widow Runk
Giuseppe Brignoli	...	Anselmo
Carlo Rota	...	Peppino
Pasqualina Brolis	...	Teresina
Massimo Fratus	...	Pierino
Francesca Villa	...	Annetta
Maria Grazia Caroli	...	Bettina
Battista Trevaini	...	Il Finard
Giuseppina Langalelli	...	La Moglie Finarda
Lorenzo Pedroni	...	Il nonno Finard
Felice Cervi	...	Uslì

Also Known As:

The Tree of Wooden Clogs (USA)
The Tree with the Wooden Clogs (UK)

Runtime:

186 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Colour:

Colour (Gevacolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Italy:T | Australia:G | Netherlands:12 | Argentina:Atp | Finland:K-12

Filming Locations:

Cividate al Piano, Bergamo, Lombardia, Italy

Company:

Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI)

Trivia:

First and only movie to be entirely spoken in Bergamasque dialect.

Goofs:

Continuity: When the children are making music with pots and pans, the 'instruments' of the little girl are switching from one hand to the other when the camera looks at her from the other side.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Splendor (1989)

An excellent portrayal of Italian peasant life

This movie could have been made any time after the development of color film. Unless you look at the tape jacket, you wouldn't know what year it had been filmed. It is timeless.

"Tree" follows the lives of three peasant families in the Lombardy (northern) region of Italy. The historical accuracy appears to be quite high. You'll learn how things were done before electricity, the automobile, etc. Watching this film reminded me of visiting Bali or Morocco; I felt immersed in another culture in another time.

The downside is that, of course, peasants don't live terribly exciting lives, and this is a long movie. There isn't really a plot driving the film. What I considered to be the action scenes are grisly; livestock is slaughtered on camera, and it's clear that you are watching the real thing. (I almost started crying while watching a pig as it is was slaughtered; it was squealing loudly as it was literally eviscerated while it was still alive.)

This is a contemplative film. The film which I think would be an interesting companion piece would be "The Scent of Green Papaya," a Vietnamese film with about the same pace and purpose.