Tree of Wooden Clogs
1978
Directed by Ermanno Olmi
I am sorry I have not posted for awhile. I have been cheating on all of you with Andrew's blog. I am promise, I am thinking of you guys the entire time. Actually, to be honest, I have been putting off watching this. I am glad I finally got it over with, but it was as brutal as I imagined.
There is no plot to this movie. That's not just me being petulant; apparently, this was an artistic choice. The film follows the lives of several peasant families in Italy during the late 1800s. As you can imagine, being a peasant is a pretty dull affair. I don't think I needed a three hour movie to tell me that. To make things even more unpleasant, there are several graphic scenes where animals are killed in appalling inhumane ways. I am a vegetarian, but I think those moments would upsetting to anyone. And these weren't staged killings; apparently the director was channelling Bunuel and had these animals butchered for real.
At one point, I thought there would be pretty juicy sexual tension. Unfortunately, just like in my personal life, the romance was mostly in my head. I should have known there would be no time for sexiness, as the women were incapable of doing anything but praying.
Dull, dull, dull.
RATING: *----
Interesting Facts:
One of Al Pacino's favorite films. Ugh.
