The Tree Of Wooden Clogs [1978] [DVD]

... and it is still my most favorite
I saw this movie 1979 when I was fourteen back in the small mountain village where I grew up near the Swiss-Italian border. I have seen many movies since, came to live and love a new country and people, yet L'Albero degli Zoccoli remains my favorite. In a world of x-boxes, consumer spending indices and ADD, it is sobering to sit down once in a while and learn about other cultures; you may as well transplant this story in any corner of the world as it holds true across cultures and continents.

Thomas Schaer, Veterinarian & Organic Farmer

A look at rural Italy and its faith more than a century ago, a springboard to discuss social change
This moving film follows a year in the lives of four Italian tenant-farming families in the late nineteenth century.

Although it is a drama, the film has a strong documentary or ethnographic flavor, portraying the lives of the families, the seasons, the farm animals, country and town, courtship and marriage, and above all faith. The four families live in the same compound, and the plot revolves around events within the compound and the village -- enrolling a boy at school, the sickness of a family's cow, boy meets girl, an adoption, planting tomatoes, the illegal felling of a tree, the difficult circumstances of a widow, and an eviction.

Director Ermanno Olmi drew the members of the cast from Lombardy farm families. The effect of the localized events and the non-professional cast is to pull the viewer into the world of these families in a way few films do. The length of the film and its "slow" pace have a parallel effect -- to draw the viewer out of the fast...

Reminded me of the stories my father told
I bought this video after the death of my father who was born into a very poor family in northeastern Italy. Watching it was a poignant experience. The hardships of peasant life at the turn of the century are realistically portrayed. Also portrayed are the strong bonds of faith and love that unite a family whatever hardships life may bring. One of the story strands follows a pair of young sweethearts who have become parents in an unusual way by the end of the film. It is enchanting. All in all a moving true to life film that brought tears and smiles as it evoked the memory of the stories Papa told us. American audiences may be impatient with length and slow pace of this film, but it is well worth the time spent.

Click to Editorial Reviews