The Tree of wooden clogs = L'albero degli zoccoli

Description: Scenes from the lives of three peasant families, living in the same farmhouse in Lombardy at the end of the nineteenth century, are chronicled over the course of a year. Their struggles to survive are slowly revealed in a mosaic of small, but detailed incidents which poignantly capture the repetitive drudgery and occasional joys of the exploited peasant class in rural Italy. Following the tradition of Italian neo-realist cinema, Olmi drew on a large ensemble cast of non-professional actors and shot the film on 16mm in a lyrical documentary style. The muted colour and straight-on, eye-level cinematography captures the striking beauty of the Italian countryside through the seasons without diminishing or romanticising the lives of the peasants who work it. In Italian with English subtitles.