Abstract
This article reassesses the politics of Ermanno Olmi’s 1978 Palme d’Or winner, The Tree of Wooden Clogs. It specifically addresses charges made against the film by the novelist and critic, Alberto Moravia. The Marxist writer asserted that the film promotes the life and ideology of the farmers featured in the work. By looking closely at the film, I demonstrate how the formal strategies utilized by Olmi negate Moravia’s assessment and controvertibly position spectators to re-evaluate their political relationships to those in their range of influence.
Highlights
This journal is published by the University Library System of the University of Pittsburgh as part of its D-Scribe Digital Publishing Program and is cosponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Press
Moravia felt The Tree of Wooden Clogs advocates an attitude of humble passivity
Examining Olmi’s direction in a close reading of the work, I will controvertibly demonstrate how the style of The Tree of Wooden Clogs stresses our role as spectators, inviting a political reassessment in respect to our own communities
Summary
Examining Olmi’s direction in a close reading of the work, I will controvertibly demonstrate how the style of The Tree of Wooden Clogs stresses our role as spectators, inviting a political reassessment in respect to our own communities. Olmi demonstrates his stated suspicion of any work that seeks to take political responsibility away from his viewers.
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