Keswick Film Festival

Synopsis

In the tradition of classic Italian neorealist cinema (best example The Bicycle Thief) Ermanno Olmi wrote, directed and photographed this epic masterpiece which won him the Palme D'Or at Cannes in 1978. Chronicling the lives of peasant families in Bergamo, Lombardy, at the turn of the 19th/20th centuries the staggeringly good performances of a large non-professional cast, transmit a powerful unifying force through their shared experience of hardship. Their lives, following the course of the seasons, compare unfavourably with that of the landlord, who owns everything - their homes, fields, crops and livestock – yet the sense of humanity and community shine through brilliantly.