There are women in the film, but none has anything you could call a personality.

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

I'm Italian and I grown up with the charming stories of my grandparents, about the works in the countryside, the long walks for go to school and to the church, the frugal diet, the attempts of cheat to the bailiff (il fattore) and to the owner (il possidente), the killing of the pigs (la pista, that I saw more times in my childhood), the meeting between young men and women... this movie is a perfect reconstruction of their stories. I have some books too, written by old men and women of my region lived at the beginning of the century, and all the scenes in this masterpiece are written in these books. Some scenes could seems cruel to the eyes of a citizen, and the seven minutes where you can see the killing of the pig would be impossible to make in this century (the animalists would became crazy), but this is history, and make more sweet the history doesn't have sense. This is the history of Italy, history that you can find yet in some part of the peninsula, and watching "L'albero degli zoccoli" can help you in understanding better my country. It isn't an action movie, and if you are looking for sci-fi or action be aware that even a masterpiece like this one could be boring to wrong eyes.

"The Tree of Wooden Clogs" was a unique experience for me. I felt that Mr. Olmi's achievement was the creation of a movie that has to be viewed twice. First it was a marvelous recreation of peasant life with its hardship, fortitude, and community. To get such performances out of untrained actors who communicate with the audience so beautifully without words. We get to know these people and to love them.On a second viewing, I see a film that points to the hardships and inequities of a society dominated by autocracy in which religious faith provides its only solace. Yet even here, it portray a church comfortable in this reliance, wanting no part of the rebellion happening around it, something of complicity in keeping the peasantry where they are.I come to this after reading that Mr. Olmi is both socialist and devout Catholic, positions that some feel are mutually exclusive.It's a wonderful movie, not a perfect one-- the pacing could have been better-- but a bonus getting two pictures out of one when so many film makers would have created an inseparable hybrid in its place.

I knew it was an Italian film, and that it featured in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, so that was the best reason for me to try it. There is no plot as such, it is basically a documentary style film seeing life on a peasant farm in Lombardy, Italy, at the beginning of the 19th century. So in the film we see all farm work and activities going through all the seasons, including hay loading, gutting and cutting up a pig while partially alive, a little mucking out, and caring for horses and cattle, oh, and going to church. The only tiny hints at a story are a clever child sent to school instead of getting help, and having to walk miles to get there, and when his shoes are ruined, they can't afford a new pair. Also, one of the farmer's finds a very valuable coin while doing his task with the horses, and to make sure no-one finds it, he hides it under one of the horse's hooves, but this doesn't work. Starring Luigi Ornaghi as Batistì, Francesca Moriggi as Batistina, Omar Brignoli as Minec and Antonio Ferrari as Tuni. I think, if it wasn't for the lack of plot (which isn't all bad, but still), and the length at just over three hours, this would have probably been given five stars, but it is still an essential period drama. It won the BAFTA Flaherty Documentary Award, and it won the Cannes Film Feastival Golden Palm (Palme D'or) and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. Very good!

This three hour movie about the lives of a group of peasants in Northern Italy in the late 19th Century is probably a masterpiece, but is also one of the most conservative movies I have ever seen. Made with a cast of amateur actors, it's a brilliant movie alright, but Olmi's social conservatism is very hard to swallow. In a way, his position seems even more backward than the Catholic Church: while today's Church gives at least some lip service to the idea of redistribution of wealth, Olmi's ideology might be best described as favoring the medieval concept of social immobility: peasants will always be peasants, the Church will look after them as long as they remain faithful to it, but they should never rise against their masters. The landlord is a horrible person (expelling a peasant from his property for felling a tree in order to make the shoes of the title for his little child) but amazingly this never seems to cross the mind of the peasants, who accept their destiny stoically. Another thing I didn't like: the movie features two scenes where animals are slaughtered (apparently for real, and graphically). Without being an extreme supporter of animal rights, I don't think this was necessary. I believe that no piece of art is worth killing an animal.