The Tree of wooden clogs = L'albero degli zoccoli

Scenes from the lives of three peasant families, living in the same farmhouse in Lombardy at the end of the nineteenth century, are chronicled over the course of a year. Their struggles to survive are slowly revealed in a mosaic of small, but detailed incidents which poignantly capture the repetitive drudgery and occasional joys of the exploited peasant class in rural Italy. Following the tradition of Italian neo-realist cinema, Olmi drew on a large ensemble cast of non-professional actors and shot the film on 16mm in a lyrical documentary style. The muted colour and straight-on, eye-level cinematography captures the striking beauty of the Italian countryside through the seasons without diminishing or romanticising the lives of the peasants who work it. In Italian with English subtitles.