In this episode we discuss the 1978 film - ‘L'albero degli zoccoli’, 'The tree of wooden clogs', directed, scripted, shot and edited by Ermano Olmi. We talk about the four stories that make up the film, the way in which Olmi slowly evokes the lives of his protagonists, all local people rather than professional actors ,and the extraordinary performances he gets from them. Russ talk about the links that have been made to this film and the neorealist cinema of the late '40s and early '50s including underlying political messages and ths subtle why these are handled here. We discuss key characters, scenes and story arcs, the look of the film and the high regard in which it is held, inlcuding by the Italian Ministry of Culture who include it in their list of 100 films that ''changed the collective memory of the country'. A great watch, and it can be seen for free - see the link below.

Participants:

Russ Kilbourn, Professor of Literature and Film, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario (Canada) http://rjakilbourn.com/

Ken Barrett, UK based visual artist, writer, podcaster and short film producer http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk/

The film: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077138/

Watch for free on the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/the-tree-of-wooden-clogs-1978

Theme music: Tarantella composed by Stephen Brown.

Portrait print by KB.

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