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The Tree of Wooden Clogs
1978
Drama
3h 6m
The life inside a farm in Italy at the beginning of the century. Many poor country families live there, and the owner pays them by their productivity (imdb)
Directed by:
Ermanno OlmiScreenwriter:
Ermanno OlmiThe Tree of Wooden Clogs
1978
Drama
3h 6m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 71.08% from 294 total ratings
Ratings & Reviews
(296)
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Rated 24 Jun 2010
6
95th
In under 30 minutes, a childlike sense of fascination and immersion is achieved [the likes of which I've only rarely experienced], and it never lets go, not even after it ends. There's nothing overly impressive to comment on, it just all comes together so remarkably well. Delicately handling multiple characters and sentiments with ease.
Rated 24 Jun 2010
Rated 28 Feb 2018
86
96th
Like DAYS OF HEAVEN, this concerns rhythms of all kinds - diurnal, nocturnal, seasonal, cultivation, reproduction, Bach - but also the arrhythmia of the initially slow but accelerating pace of historical change. In relation to all that, the care cultivated by faith provides ways of living together, but their only resorts when confronted with injustice are dignity and memory. That something like the aristocratic THE LEOPARD receives far more attention from critics and historians seems telling.
Rated 28 Feb 2018
Rated 18 May 2008
83
72nd
Be warned this is slow, really really slow. Still, if you're up for it, it can be an extremely rewarding experience. Olmi captures the monotony and small triumphs of peasant life and the prevalence of religion extremely well and the film has its share of happy and sad moments, all played to perfection by a wonderful cast.
Rated 18 May 2008
Rated 09 Jan 2009
95
97th
A sensitive tribute to the everyday chores of four poor families on a tired, old farm at the end of the 19th century. Never sentimental but constantly warm hearted, forbearing and humane. A film shaped with colossal diligence and a big fucking heart.
Rated 09 Jan 2009
Rated 08 Apr 2021
94
95th
Like Yi Yi by way of Bresson. The ultimate counterpoint to the phoniness of Italian Neo-Realism Olmi is so against in all his works. A testament to the empathy tool of cinema, that we can know technically so little about the faces inhabiting the frame and yet feel so deeply for them. The boy struggling with his titular clogs, the man unable to resist the temptation of a coin in the dirt during an anti-plutocratic rant, and the newlyweds' journey to society. The ending is devastating perfection.
Rated 08 Apr 2021
Rated 17 Feb 2011
95
99th
A unique and sublime piece of cinema, The Tree of Wooden Clogs is a 3-hour-long slice of the life of Italian peasantry before the industrial revolution. Lacking a unified plot, the film consists instead of various sequences forming a complex, atmospheric and naturalistic portrait of a simple farming community. Olmi directs a great cast with his typical hyper-realism, and the photography is gorgeous.
Rated 17 Feb 2011
Rated 13 Jun 2009
81
69th
There's no plot to speak of, just a series of minor anecdotes. It captures the sense of time and place, depicting their struggles without asking the audience for pity, and without portraying the characters as noble salt-of-the-earth types wronged by a cruel class system (except at the end, but by that point it's been earned). It's all very matter-of-fact. The cast is quite good, and the photography, although not spectacular, has a pastoral grace to it. But it does require some patience.
Rated 13 Jun 2009
Rated 05 May 2013
9
93rd
Beautiful details and human observation are to be found in this pensively paced drama about italian peasants that harks to the very primal idea of film as a document of how our lives are lived.
Rated 05 May 2013
Rated 01 Nov 2020
88
96th
Beautiful! This feels like a documentary where every frame is a painting. It also reminds me of the beginning of Bertolucci's 1900, although that take is even more interesting.
Rated 01 Nov 2020
Rated 04 Jul 2022
50
9th
Pretty and well made technically, it is effective in depicting a different way of life in a different time. Unfortunately, that way of life and time are kind of boring, and at over three hours, this drags a lot. It's just very, very slow and had a lot of trouble keeping my attention despite the obvious craftsmanship that went into it. The kind of movie that I admire to some degree but can't really enjoy.
Rated 04 Jul 2022
Rated 03 Aug 2018
3
45th
This is about as organic as narrative filmmaking gets, a complete commitment to authenticity and detail, indeed impressive and appreciated, but for me eliciting only a few sparse moments of meaningful reaction. About films of a similar vein, I prefer Shindo's more lyrical The Naked Island and Troell's more characterized couplet of The Emigrants and The New Land.
Rated 03 Aug 2018
Rated 13 Jan 2010
87
74th
262
Rated 13 Jan 2010
Rated 03 Aug 2017
60
26th
These characters were "salt of the earth" people. This was a "salt of the earth" movie. Certainly pretty to look at.
Rated 03 Aug 2017
Rated 11 May 2022
88
90th
Neorealist masterpiece, that frames its shots like paintings and properly fleshes out its people.
Rated 11 May 2022
Rated 12 Jan 2010
77
66th
The digressive and unfocused narrative structure of the film (combined with its length) makes it feel slow and dull at points, but it does have some fascinating moments (the titular clog scene and the aftermath), and the "slice of life" approach leads to some surprisingly tense moments - the married couple's first trip together felt strange and unpredictable, so I could share their anxieties leaving the home I'd spent over two hours watching.
Rated 12 Jan 2010
Rated 19 Dec 2008
88
76th
246
Rated 19 Dec 2008
Rated 30 Nov 2011
87
74th
#268
Rated 30 Nov 2011
Rated 30 Nov 2008
88
77th
Ah dang - just read another review in here that said just what I wantedto say about this film. So yeah, "the monotony and small triumphs of peasant life". A stunning film.
Rated 30 Nov 2008
Rated 01 Mar 2008
88
80th
# 243
Rated 01 Mar 2008
Cast & Info
Directed by:
Ermanno OlmiScreenwriter:
Ermanno OlmiCollections
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