Tuesday, February 24, 2009
WAY OF LIFE
I watched the first half of the NYTimes Best 1176 Film
L' Albero degli zoccoli / The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1974)
This is a pastoral symphony of sights and sounds from a 19th Century Italian peasant village.
There is a plot that meanders through the film but, for the most part, we see the daily, difficult, life of these people who work hard for the patroné and save little for themselves.
It is a slice of life. Many stories. Real people, not actors and I bet the farming methods are researched to the nth degree.
This is a different kind of film. A docudrama, actually, with the emphasis on the doc and not the drama. There is enough narrative tension to keep me into it but not so much I couldn't take a break.
This is my break not the director's. He wanted you to sit through the whole thing at one time. Not me. I still cling to the formulation of the 90 minute film ideal.
It is pretty good and I look forward to the second half.
Labels: best films
