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The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Name: The Tree of Wooden Clogs
Director: Ermanno Olmi
Released: 1978
Duration: 187 min

Representation Score

1.5/10

Minimal

1978

Director

Ermanno Olmi

Runtime

187 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

Ermanno Olmi’s work emphasizes social realism and the lived experiences of the working class over modern identity politics. The film captures the authentic, materialist reality of a turn-of-the-century Italian farm, focusing on the hardships of subsistence living. Though the film lacks markers of diverse identities like LGBTQ+ presence or racial diversity, it achieves a high degree of historical authenticity. It depicts the socioeconomic structures of the Lombardy peasantry without trying to challenge traditional roles or contemporary representational frameworks. Ultimately, the film is a study of class-based struggle. It succeeds in its ethnographic approach to the sharecropper experience, even as it adheres to the homogeneous social structures of its historical setting.

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Category Breakdown

Does The Tree of Wooden Clogs have LGBTQ+ representation?

Minimal

The film focuses solely on the structures of a turn-of-the-century agrarian community that assume everyone is straight. There are no queer subtexts or diverse gender identities present.

How does The Tree of Wooden Clogs portray gender?

Limited

Women are portrayed as crucial to household survival and animal care, but the narrative reinforces traditional gender roles typical of the time period.

How racially and ethnically diverse is The Tree of Wooden Clogs?

Limited

Set in rural Northern Italy, the film shows a homogeneous ethnic population. The focus is on class-based identity rather than racial diversity.

How does The Tree of Wooden Clogs represent religion and culture?

Good

The film offers a nuanced look at poverty through social realism. Religion is shown as an integral part of the community rather than a source of corruption.

Does The Tree of Wooden Clogs include disability representation?

Minimal

The narrative does not include characters with visible or invisible disabilities. The focus is on the physical demands of manual labor.

Present on Screen

Provides a profound and authentic depiction of the working-class struggle through social realism.
Offers a nuanced critique of systemic poverty and the material conditions of the era.
Maintains high historical accuracy regarding the socioeconomic structures of rural Northern Italy.

Limited or Absent

Lacks representation of LGBTQ+ identities or diverse gender perspectives.
Does not engage with racial or ethnic diversity beyond the local population.
Reinforces traditional gender hierarchies rather than challenging them.

Official Synopsis

On a turn-of-the-20th-century northern Italian farm, a group of sharecroppers eke out a threadbare existence. A priest advises Batisti and his wife Batistina that their young son Minec should be formally educated, so they sacrifice his help in the fields and send him to school. When Minec's wooden shoe breaks one day, Batisti--in an act of desperation--puts the family's future at risk to replace the clog.

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