The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978)

Directed by Ermanno Olmi. Starring Luigi Ornaghi, Francesca Moriggi, Omar Brignoli, Antonio Ferrari, Giuseppe Brignoli, Pasqualina Brolis, Teresa Brescianni, Carlo Rota, Maria Grazia Caoli, Francesca Villa, Massimo Fratus, Battista Trevaina, Giuseppnia Langalelli.

Epic-length, neorealism-inspired Northern Italian drama depicting simple lives of simple smallfolk working fields for the same landowner at the turn of the century. An undercurrent of political unrest can be ferreted out, but the vignettes most often detail ordinary events and pursuits, save for the incident that gives the film its title—patriarch Batisti (Ornaghi) cuts down the landlord’s trees to make a pair of clogs for son Minec (Brignoli) so the boy can attend a school several miles away from their house, leading to dire repercussions. Had director Olmi focused almost exclusively on this family and shed the slower and less meaningful scenes, he might have had something approaching a rustic and naturalistic masterwork, but three hours of small hardships and pleasures spread over several families/locals sometimes makes a spare yet emotionally-absorbing central idea feel restless and meandering in creating a whole world for them to inhabit. Objectively shot by the director in natural light for ruddy days and gloomy nights, every season vivid in the memory afterward; he also wrote and edited the picture.

77/100