The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978) L'albero degli zoccoli (original title)

Director:

Ermanno Olmi

Writer:

Ermanno Olmi (written by)

Release Date:

1 June 1979 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History

Tagline:

Once in a generation, a work of art appears as if by magic, to move and inspire its audience. A work that returns to a exhausted humanity the possibility of simple grandeur. We invite you to visit a time and place when life was still a sacred matter. When the family of man was still - a family.

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

School | Italy | Money | Farm | Arthritis

Awards:

15 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
Pierangelo Bertoli	...	Secondo
Brunella Migliaccio	...	Olga
Giacomo Cavalleri	...	Brena
Lorenza Frigeni	...	La moglie di Brena
Lucia Pezzoli	...	Maddalena
Franco Pilenga	...	Stefano
Guglielmo Badoni	...	Father
Laura Lecatelli	...	Mother
Carmelo Silva	...	Don Carlo
Mario Brignoli	...	Padrone
Emilio Pedroni	...	Fattore
Vittorio Capelli	...	Fritz
Francesca Bassurini	...	Luca Maria
Lina Ricci	...	Donna del Segno

Directed by
Ermanno Olmi

Writing credits
Ermanno Olmi		(written by)

Cinematography by
Ermanno Olmi

Film Editing by
Ermanno Olmi

Production Design by
Enrico Tovaglieri

Set Decoration by
Franco Gambarana

Costume Design by
Francesca Zucchelli

Makeup Department
Guiliana DeCarli	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Alessandro Calosci	....	production manager
Domenico Di Parigi	....	production supervisor
Attilio Torricelli	....	production manager

Art Department
Rossella Guarama	....	assistant production designer

Sound Department
Italo Cameracanna	....	sound effects
Amedeo Casati	....	sound engineer
Aldo Ciorba	....	sound effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Antonio Calzavara	....	chief electrician
Carlo Petriccioli	....	camera operator
Giovanni Spinelli	....	key grip
Enrico Visconti	....	assistant camera

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Valeria Mariani	....	seamstress

Editorial Department
Elma Rigoni	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Johann Sebastian Bach	....	composer: additional music (as J.S. Bach)
Fernando Germani	....	musician: organ

Other crew
Enrico Leoni	....	production secretary
Fiorella Lugli	....	script supervisor
Giulio Mandelli	....	delegate: RAI
Archimede Orlando	....	administrator

Production Companies

• Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI) (as RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana)
• Ital-Noleggio Cinematografico

Distributors

• Ital-Noleggio Cinematografico (1978) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Cinema International Corporation (CIC) (1978) (France) (theatrical)
• New Yorker Films (1979) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Fox Lorber Home Video (1990) (USA) (VHS) (pan and scan)
• Istituto Luce (2003) (Italy) (DVD)
• Koch Lorber Films (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Carlotta Films (2006) (France) (DVD)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2007) (Australia) (DVD)
• Homescreen (2008) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Arrow Films (2011) (UK) (DVD)
• Medusa Video (2011) (Italy) (DVD)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2006) (Australia) (TV)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2006) (Australia) (video) (VOD)

Other Companies

• Cinecittà  sound
• Costumi d'Arte  costumes
• Fox Lorber  package design
• Gruppo Produzione Cinema  executive production (as G.P.C. Gruppo Produzione Cinema ~ Milano)

Also Known As:

"L'albero degli zoccoli" - Italy (original title)

Runtime:

186 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Gevacolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

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

Filming Locations:

Cividate al Piano, Bergamo, Lombardia, Italy

Company:

Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI)

Trivia:

One of Al Pacino's favorite movies of all time.

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)

Sacramental epic.

If there were any reason for dropping out of normal life and dedicating oneself entirely to watching Italian films, this might be it! The majestic simplicity and dignity of this film make even the best contemporary films seem trivial and stillborn by comparison. Loved by sensitive audiences and critics alike, Ermanno Olmi's movie describes incidents in the lives of four families sharecropping in Lombardy at the coming of the twentieth century. Olmi's extraordinary command of imagery, movement, rhythm, and lighting conveys a potent nostalgia for Earth and the family of man. There is a scene in which images of a father carving clogs for his shoeless boy are intercut with the lives of the farm families. The music accompanying that scene is a Bach organ chorale. The effect is almost sacramental and entirely overwhelming and may be one of my favorite scenes in all cinema. That scene alone is worth more than all the digitalized special effects, car crashes, ocean liner sinkings, and the deafening Dolby vapidity of so much of the inane junk embraced undiscriminatingly by so many. If they only had the eyes to see, ears to hear, and the soul to love this wondrous work of art!

The most authentic version on this film has the original Bergamasco dialect track. The newer DVDs from Italy have the option of choosing this soundtrack.