THE TREE OF WOODEN CLOGS
Italy, 1987, 186 minutes, Colour.
Luigi Ornaghi, Francesca Moriggi, Omar Brignoli.
Directed by Ermanno Olmi.
Ermanno Olmi, one of Italy's best respected directors and a man proud of his Catholic heritage, has made a three hour portrait of peasant life at the turn of the century. It is beautiful to look at, a measured presentation of life on a farm near Bergamo (and portrayed by a non professional group from the area). We get to know several families very well and share their work, poverty, joy, religious faith. The peasants' life is taken for granted by themselves, there are echoes of social reform and revolution, but this is a picture of a simple, dignified, oppressed way of life that offers much insight into human nature.
1. The overall impact of this long film? The immersion of the audience in an Italian world, a 19th. century world, a peasant world? The immersion in a particular world but with the universal themes? A humane experience? The acclaim the film received, prizes? Its meriting them?
2. The importance of the visual impact, colour photography, editing? The atmosphere of the Lombardy Plains, the countryside around Bergamo? The late 19th. century? The presentation visually of a world and a way of life? The attention to detail, the general atmosphere? A closed world yet open to insight into human nature? The presentation of the seasons and their change? The 19th. century and its being shattered by revolutions, modernisation? Why the value of recalling such a world in the late 20th. century?
3. The importance of the editing, the interweaving of the lives of the various families? The pace? The beauty of visual art, and the objectivity of this world for the audience? The presentation of the variety of families, the world of the master? The juxtaposition of these two worlds? The experience for the audience of identification, observation?
4. The importance of colour photography, the beauty of the countryside, the beauty of families, the beauty of men working a God-given world? The beauty and harshness of nature and human beings fitting in with it? Hard work and its being taken for granted, play, prayer? Survival? The classical score and its contribution to mood and atmosphere?
5. The world of the master, his house, his listening to music, his being alone? The family and its formalism, the boy at the piano, the politeness of the guests? The supervision of the families - and his receiving two thirds of their produce in rent? The discovery of the cut tree and the decision about the eviction of the family? The comment on the aristocracy ? the need for revolution which was suggested in the scenes in Milan? The film's social comment, without dialectic and argument?
6. The place of the Catholic Church and its long traditions, the role of the priest and his advice, his preaching and his thoughts about miracles, the Church and social change? The place of God, talk about God, providence? The Will of God? The variety of prayers and way these were said, both privately and in common? The variety of ways in which the Rosary was said? The nature of faith, the hold of Catholicism in practice - even with ignorance of doctrine? A religious way of life? The influence on accepting the status quo, on morality? The confining aspects of Catholicism? The presentation of the nuns? the convent, the irreligious style, their ability to welcome the married couple, the meal, the looking after of the orphans? The director's attitude towards the Catholic Church?
7. The portrait of a variety of people - within their traditions, limits, countryside? Growing up within this atmosphere and not moving out of it? Survival, birth and death, courtship and marriage? The propriety of this group of people presented? The contrast with the presentation of the peasants in such films as 1900? Their earthiness but lack of emphasis on the temptations of the flesh?
8. The initial focus on the Battisti family? At work, the pregnant wife, the priest's advice about the boy and his cleverness and going to school, his going to school and the various difficulties, all weathers? The intimate detail of their way of life - meals, the bathing of the children? The buildup to the birth of the baby and the assistance of the neighbours? The clogs and the cutting down of the tree with stealth? The result with the eviction and the other families watching the Battisti go? The significance of the title and its reference to the little boy, his clogs, the poverty of the family and their being cast out?
9. The contrast with the widow and her family - her strength, the number of children, the boy and his getting work, her asking him about the younger children going to the orphanage? Don Carlo and his advice? Her managing the family, the sick cow and her treatment, the discussion about cures and Edracles? The portrait of the grandfather and his love for Bettina, the sowing of the tomatoes in the snow, reaping the rewards and taking them to market?
10. Madeleina and the family's concern about her, her friendship with Stefano, the courting, the kiss, the reserve and propriety? The build-up to the marriage and the market sequence and the buying of clothes? The ceremony, the journey? The passing of the revolutionaries and the prisoners? The ritual of the convent, their first night and its reticent presentation? The baby and their decision to bring it home?
11. The father and his quarrels with his son, the finding of the coin and his hiding it, getting advice from the woman?
12. The portrait of the bailiff? his being above the peasants, his responsibility to the master, the eviction of the Battisti?
13. The various traditions and presentation of family life? the stories and the games around the fires, at night ? with the prayers, oral traditions? The corn and the group working with it, the long sequence of the killing and the treating of the pig, the beheading of the goose, the ploughing, the vegetables? The women and the washing? The rent and the tithes for the owner?
14. The contrast with relief - rest, the poverty of the rooms, the beds, so many in one room, the humorous stories, religion? Carnival and the games, the sideshows, the drinking?
15. The overall effect of a three hour portrait - the emotional impact as the Battisti family were evicted, the others silently in their houses, watching? The way of life of the peasants - collaboration, poverty, the myths of the families and the noble peasants, their glory, their suffering? The need for change and its inevitability?
