Padre padrone (1977)

Directors:

Paolo Taviani
Vittorio Taviani

Writers:

Gavino Ledda (book)
Paolo Taviani (writer)

Release Date:

2 September 1977 (Italy)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

The true story of the life of Gavino Ledda, the son of a Sardinian shepherd, and how he managed to escape his harsh...

Plot Keywords:

Bestiality | Rural | Illiteracy | Emigration | Sheep

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 6 wins

Cast

Omero Antonutti	...	Father
Saverio Marconi	...	Gavino
Marcella Michelangeli	...	Mother
Fabrizio Forte	...	Young Gavino
Marino Cenna	...	Young shepherd
Stanko Molnar	...	Sebasiano
Nanni Moretti	...	Cesare
Pierluigi Alvau
Giuseppino Angioni
Fabio Angioni
Giuseppe Brandino
Mario Cheri
Giuseppe Chessa Perle
Domenico Deriu
Marina D'Onofrio

Also Known As:

Father and Master
My Father My Master

Runtime:

UK:113 min | USA:114 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian | Sardinian | Latin

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | Singapore:PG

Company:

Cinema S.r.l

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Chacun son cinéma ou Ce petit coup au coeur quand la lumière s'éteint et que le film commence (2007)

Harsh but exhilarating

There's no shortage of grit and unpleasantness in Padre Padrone, the kind of film you really couldn't make today – violent child beatings, animals beaten, killed or worse on screen (I really wasn't expecting the montage of donkey and chicken molesting) and a distinct lack of any sentimentality. But the Taviani Brothers' film is still one of the best I've seen this year, turning what could easily have been an exercise in miserablism into a remarkable and occasionally anarchic but always imaginative piece of pure film-making. From its great opening, where the real Gavino hands the actor playing his father the stick he will use to beat him as a child, there's an intelligent audacity that manifests itself in a world where animals and even music have voices if you know how to listen: the battle of wills between Gavino and a goat played out in voice over, or the voice overs of the school children whose laughter at Gavino's fate turns to horror as they realize they are next are just two great examples. Some shots manage to be strangely beautiful in spite of their context or even, odd as it sounds, their visual quality – the tracking shot of leaving the village, the long take of the father hurrying home to kill his son. The film also has a superlative use of sound, creating a sense of place out of the sounds as much of the sights in Gavino's first night in the pasture.

The two hours fly by, but burn themelves into your memory. It's just a shame that Fox Lorber's DVD is such poor quality.