The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978)

Peasant life in a feudal farm in rural Italy at the end of the 19th century.

Director:

Ermanno Olmi

Writer:

Ermanno Olmi

Stars:

Luigi Ornaghi, Francesca Moriggi, Omar Brignoli

18 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

The life inside a farm in Italy at the end of the 19th century. Many poor country families live there, and the owner pays them by their productivity. One of the families has a very clever child. They decide to send him to school instead of make him help them, although this represents a great sacrifice. The boy has to wake up very early and walk several miles to get to the school. One day the boy's shoes break when returning home, but they do not have money to buy another pair. What can they do?

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Plot Keywords:

bedwetting | chasing an animal | french | soldier | pianist | 

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Taglines:

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.

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Genres:

Drama | History

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Selected by the Vatican in the "values" category of its list of 45 "great films."

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Goofs

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.

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Quotes

Butcher: You're lucky. "A pig in the snow is like wine down below."

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Crazy Credits

Quite strangely, the names of the actors are listed as "last name first name", while the names of the rest of the crew are correctly listed as "first name last name".

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Alternate Versions

There are two versions of this movie: one which is spoken in the dialect of Bergamo, Italy, and one in which the actors dubbed themselves in Italian.

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Connections

Edited into Bellissimo: Immagini del cinema italiano (1985)

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Soundtracks

Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major, K. 331 (300i) - III. Turkish Rondo
Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Played by various characters

User Reviews

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.

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

1 June 1979 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Filming Locations:

Cividate al Piano, Bergamo, Lombardia, Italy

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$9,367

Company Credits

Production Co:

RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana, Italnoleggio Cinematografico

Technical Specs

Runtime:

186 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Gevacolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1