by Enrico Martignoni In a very engaging way ‘The Tree o f Wooden Clogs’ talks about human beings. It is set in Northern Italy at the turn o f the century; this alone is not the only indication o f the subject o f the film . With the skill o f a Dutch painter and a Russian novelist and the experienced documentarian that he is, Ermanno Olmi succeeds in composing a work which is without equal in the contemporary cinema. One can refer to other recent films but this would be misleading i f not meaningless. The viewing o f the film provides one o f the most lucid statements about society in the cimena today. Olmi is not a newcomer to the world o f film. He has worked as the in-house film-maker for one o f Ita ly ’s largest corporations, Edisonvolta, fo r 7 years. By 1960 he had made over 30 documentaries and has since formed his own production company, ‘La 22 Dicembre’ . Lina Wertmuller is one o f the people who have made films for this company. O lm i’s training with industry has given him a unique vantage point because he has worked closer to the sources o f power in modern society than most o f his contemporaries. Earlier films o f his which have been shown in this country include ‘The Sound o f Trumpets’ (Il Posto) and ‘The Fiances’ (I Fidanzati). ‘Time Stood Still’ (II Tempo si e Fermato), 1959, was his first feature length film . It told the story o f two lonely watchmen who passed a winter at a snowed- in dam site, cu to ff from the rest o f the world and wholly dependent upon each other for company and human contact. With an eye for which no detail is too slight or foolish to be worth recording Olmi makes ‘Time Stood S till’ a dialogue o f tiny happenings rather than words. In a similar way ‘The Tree o f Wooden Clogs’ is composed o f the tiniest and seemingly insignificant happenings which come to dominate the film , as they do life. The Bergamasco countryside at the turn o f the century is seen, in ‘The Tree of Wooden Clogs’ , through several peasant families. They work for the same landlord and live together in the same building, constituting an extended family. These peasants are not idealized in any way. They are not romanticized or shown as forces o f right triumphing over the forces oppressing them, as peasants were shown in ‘ 1900’ . They are shown to be people out o f the great mass o f humanity who must work, suffer and play. Unlike the Neo-Realists, who tended to be more interested in the jobless, the homeless, and the exiles from society, Olmi is interested in people simply earning their living, individuals out o f the great conformist mass. The film , however, transcends the mundane aspects o f peasants working. It raises itself and the viewer to a level o f superbly expressed feelings. The f i lm ’s strength is not in its narrative, in fact it has none in the Hollywood sense o f the term. It is untraditional in that there is no ostensive direction to the film. There is no upcoming revolution, nor anything to make us expectant about the next scene. The film-maker has woven a beautiful tale with the lives o f the d if- I E • M • A Tree of Wooden Clogs The Coffee-House Philosopher By Guiseppe Gioacchino Belli (Itai 19th century) Human beings in this world are the same as coffee-beans before the espresso machine: first one, and then another, a steady stream, all of them going alike to one sure fate. Often they change places, and often the big bean presses against and crushes the little bean, and they all crowd each other at the entrance gate of iron that grinds them down into a powder. And so in this way men live, soft or hard, mixed together by the hand of God that stirs them round and round and round in circles; And, gently or roughly, everyone moves, draws breath without ever understanding why and falls down to the bottom through the throat of death. trans Harold Norse selected W J Smith Poems trom Italy Crowell. NY 1974 ferent families; as they live in their apartments, as they function collectively, and in their relationship to the land and the landowner. While there are certain threads which run through the whole film , like the seasons o f the year, it is the interrelationships between the various family groups which provides the foundation o f the film. The film is a series o f vignettes which together give one a moving view o f the peasants life. The vignettes are unified by the common predicament and dwelling place o f the people. A t the stables/residence the butchering lakes place as well as evening socials and a courtship, these are all parts o f the larger ‘ fam ily’s’ function. The film begins with the corn harvest and its weighing—Vs o f the crop goes to the landlord we are told in a note. Minek, one o f the children, goes o f f to school, an unusual opportunity for a child in his social position. Anselmo, the father o f the widow who is trying to support her 6 children by doing laundry, makes preparations for his tomato crop in order to be the first to arrive in the market in the spring with tomatoes. We are expertly kept in touch with these currents as the winter passes and spring arrives, courtship becomes marriage, a trip to Milan and an adopted child. Structurally the film is both intricate and clear. Through a brilliant development o f character what were discreet strands at the beginning become entwined like a May-pole. Any notion of the individual becomes subsumed by the notion o f the larger extended family. O lm i’ s skill has enabled him to capture both the mood o f the people and the land with both camerawork and color. The pace o f the film is suited to the pastoral scenes; in contrast to the pace outside the cinema it seems a crawl. Never does this matched pace interfere with the viewers comfort although the Movie House has inserted an intermission (1 would say without sufficient reason). I have seen the film both with and without intermission and feel that the break detracts from the film. Are Portland cinema-goers unable to cope with 3 hours o f the most beautiful film available without interruption? In addition to the pacing o f the film , the relatively few close-ups emphasize the scope o f the film . Never are we dealing with one person’ s inner conflicts which so often, nowadays, bring 20 foot grimaces onto the screen. Rather we have poeple involved with their environment from which their problems derive. O lm i’ s palette is similarly attuned to the countryside. He deals beautifully with the yellowish autumn days, the stark winter landscapes and an unlifting, colorful spring. Acting in ‘The Tree o f Wooden Clogs’ is superb, even though all o f the actors are non-professional, as is O lm i’ s custom. By using peasants he achieves an authenticity o f feeling which would be d ifficu lt for even the best professionals to replicate. It is filmed in beautiful locations which enhance O lm i’s already near perfect color. These two factors are also important in another respect, they helped keep the cost o f the film down. Reportedly made for $500,000, it makes most expensive films pale by comparison. In an interview in 1964 Olmi talked about posing questions through film. “ Solutions,” he said, “ cannot be collective because they do not affect us i f they are not unique, born within each one o f us.” There is never even a hint at a ‘ solution’ in ‘The Tree o f Wooden Clogs’ , i f anything, we are left with a strong feeling for conditions in the late 19th century. There is an even stronger feeling o f how not so far away our lives are from the ones portrayed. Were people able, 80 years ago, to master the reality they confronted any more than we are able to today? The audience is left entranced by the prospects. Fortunately Olmi does not let any o f the now standard Italian film-political statements enter into his film . He does not need, as Bertolucci and Antonioni do, to pay lip service to the left by touting the ‘ line’ or the ‘correct’ interpretation o f history. What O lm i’s film has shown with great depth o f feeling and beauty could never have been communicated i f his committment to ‘objectivity’ and his sincerity had been swayed by politics. How we feel about the conditions described is left entirely for us to judge and for this reason the film engages us to consider and question work and life. A film about the 19th century is able to talk to modern industry and the civilization it creates, as ‘The Tree o f Wooden Clogs’ so finely demonstrates. 226 N.W.Davis, Portland 223'4447 174E.Broadway BagORO 3423366 36
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