Ermanno Olmi Movies
Though not among Italy's most internationally renowned filmmakers, Ermanno Olmi ranks as one of his country's finest. He is known for making realistic films about the lives of average people that are infused with an almost austere subtlety and rare ambiguity that is sympathetic yet not overly sentimental. A native of Bergamo, Italy, he was the son of peasant factory workers. Following his father's death during WWII, Olmi and his mother supported the family working in the Edison-Volta electric plant where Olmi worked as a clerk. While there, he became involved in company-sponsored filmmaking and theatrical projects. Most of the films he made for the company had industrial themes. Eventually, he came to head the company film department and over the next seven years made many documentaries, notably his last Edison-Volta film, Il Tempo Si E Fermato (Time Stood Still), in 1959. It was with this film, a chronicle of the relationship that gradually developed between an elderly nightwatchman and his assistant while stationed at the construction site of an Alpine dam, that evidenced the sensitivity that would characterize Olmi's later works. The success of the film led Olmi to become a feature filmmaker. To that end, he traveled to Milan and co-founded the Twenty-Four Horses, an independent film co-op where he made his semi-autobiographical feature-film debut with Il Posto in 1961. Both this and his subsequent effort, I Fidanzati (The Fiancés) (1963), quickly earned him a good reputation and led him to make his one mainstream film, And There Came a Man (1965), an epic biography of Pope John XXIII. Unfortunately, this film -- the only one in which he did not use nonprofessional actors -- was a box-office flop and after making one more feature, Olmi became a television director. He did not make another feature until 1978. The film was The Tree of Wooden Clogs, a complex interweaving of the lives of five peasant families struggling to survive, and is considered Olmi's finest work. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 2007
As celebrated Italian director Ermanno Olmi's self-declared final work, the feature 100 Nails (AKA Centochiodi, 2007) attempts to weave a narrative around a contemporary figure who harbors the humanity of Christ. In a startling prologue, the overseer of an ancient library screams out in horror and summons the cops when he discovers that some degenerate has nailed 100 rare manuscripts to the floor with giant railroad spikes, comparable to the ones used to nail Jesus to the cross. As the authorities conduct their investigation, the film then flashes back to events that unfolded over the course of the prior day. An unnamed philosophy professor at Bologna University (Raz Degan) wraps up the tail of the semester and leaves his students behind, including a young Indian woman who penned a thesis on women and religion - the work asserting that organized religion is of utmost importance in her familial culture. The professor climbs into his BMW and drives out of Bologna and into the countryside, where he reaches the Po River and a dilapidated peasant house. Journeying into a local village, he finds its residents far warmer and more welcoming than his colleagues and students at the university; indeed, they first help him fix up the ruined house, then turn to him as an activist and seek his help protecting their threatened community center. He not only becomes a Christlike figure to the locals, but takes a pointed stand against what the film presents as the intellectual decreptitude of the Catholic church, with his intense and seemingly limitless love of humanity. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raz Degan, Luna Bendandi, (more)
Guillaume Depardieu, Jeanne Balibar, and Michel Piccoli star in director Jacques Rivette's adaptation of the Balzac novella The Duchesse de Langeais, which tells the tale of a Parisian socialite who is romantically pursued by a Napoleonic war hero. The story begins as grieving French general Armand de Montriveau (Depardieu) arrives at a Majorcan church to speak with French nun Antionette le Langeais (Balibar). General de Montriveau believes le Langeais to be a woman he once loved dearly, but eventually lost. As the pair is reunited under the watchful eyes of the presiding priest and mother superior, their romantic past gradually comes into focus. It was five years ago that bored socialite Antoinette first became enamored with the wounded soldier whose rousing tales of adventure offered exciting contrast to her highly refined lifestyle. Though she was married at the time, the coquettish cosmopolitan quickly fell under the spell of the commanding military man -- who vowed that very night that Antoinette would be his lover. As their romance grows more complicated, the passionate pair finds it increasingly difficult to deny the powerful connection that binds them. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeanne Balibar, Guillaume Depardieu, (more)
- 2003
Directed by veteran helmer Ermanno Olmi, this Chinese folktale revolves around a young man (Davide Dragonetti) who mistakenly enters a brothel while trying to find his way through urban China circa the 1930s. Narrated by Bud Spencer, the young man succumbs to temptation, and the dialogue-free scene is performed through dance. Meanwhile, pirate junks begin firing at one another from a shoreside village. The leader, Admiral Ching (Makoto Kobayashi), is backed by a powerful group of profiteers, thus prompting the emperor to offer him a high ranking position if he stops firing. Unwilling to lose their income, Ching's backers murder the pirate, which sets off a strange sequence of events that will resound throughout the community for years to come. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bud Spencer, Jun Ichikawa, (more)
- 2001
Noted Italian director Ermanno Olmi uses a true story from the 16th century as a parable calling for contemporary disarmament in this historical drama. Giovanni De Medici (Hristo Jivkov) was a famed military leader who was the commander of the Black Band, a company who painted their armor black in order to allow them to travel unseen at night. In 1526, De Medici was in charge of an army of mercenaries hired by the Pope to prevent Italy from falling to German troops. During a heated battle with German forces, De Medici was struck by cannon fire in his upper legs. De Medici hoped there was some way his limbs could be saved, but when gangrene began to set in, they were amputated; however, it soon became obvious that it was too late; the infection was spreading through his body. For four days, De Medici bravely fought against the painful gangrene that was ravaging his system, and he often looked back on the awful toll of his life as a warrior as he struggled through his final hours. Il Mestiere Delle Armi was shown in competition at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hristo Jivkov
- 1994
- Add Genesis: The Creation and The Flood to QueueAdd Genesis: The Creation and The Flood to top of Queue
In this movie, filmed in the Moroccan desert and utilizing a cast of native Bedouins, stories are taken verbatim from the Bible and re-enacted on the screen. This film was originally the first episode in a 20 part adaptation of Bible stories made for Italian television. In the film, nomads gather around a desert campfire to listen to their sage tell biblical stories of the creation and the flood to his curious grandson. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Omero Antonutti
- 1993
In this somewhat overlong children's fantasy, Colonel Procolo (Paolo Villagio) has inherited the duty of taking care of a large tract of woodland in northern Italy. He is charged with ensuring that no harm comes to the oldest trees in it. Furthermore, he is only an executor for the property, which is to go to his young nephew (Riccardo Zannantonio) when he reaches his majority. The colonel is a typical product of our age, and immediately concocts a plan to sell precisely the old trees that he has been charged to preserve in order to make a goodly amount of money. One day a forest ranger comes to see him and informs him that each tree is inhabited by a spirit which could help him if he leaves everything as it is. Thinking that this is pure poppycock, he cuts down an old tree, and finds the forest filled with mourners who have come to pay homage to their friend, the being that inhabited the tree. It turns out that the ranger himself is such a spirit, and the trees, animals and even the wind are sentient and are outspoken about what happens in their wood. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paolo Villaggio, Giulio Brogi, (more)
- 1992
Documentary filmmaker Ermanno Olmi continues his meditations on man and nature in this film, which considers the northern Italian river Po in its many moods and seasons. Featuring a mix of philosophical speculations and religious inspiration, the director contrasts the perfection of nature with the exploitative and destructive ways in which mankind relates to it. In the present instance, the river Po is highly polluted because it runs through the majority of Italy's main industrial centers. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Francesco Carnelutti
- 1992
Years after the fact, a surveyor tells a story to his friends over dinner about an experience he had while surveying a remote mountain site: The terrain there is forbidding, and a storm comes up, so the surveyor seeks shelter in the first place he can find it. This turns out to be the home of a poor, hard-working and very honest old priest. The surveyor shares a very spartan dinner with the welcoming old man, and the two strike up quite a bond of friendship. He discovers just one incongruity in this frugal setting: all the old man's bedding is of the highest quality. Time passes, and during an illness, the priest explains that the unusually elegant bedding comes from his having grown up in a wealthy family which has long since grown bankrupt. As failings go, if that is what this is, it seems minor enough. Realizing that he is dying, the priest entrusts the surveyor with his will. Later, when the will is read, it comes out that the priest wanted all his savings to go to the building of a school for the poor children of the region. In fact, the priest didn't have any monetary savings: his coin was of another kind. In an auction, the rich people of the area purchase each of the kindly priest's belongings for quite large sums of money, thus endowing the school. This moving story is based on a well-loved novel by the Austrian author Adalbert Stifter. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Dance, Aleksander Bardini, (more)
- 1988
Italian director Ermanno Olmi serves up another tale of dignity amongst the "rabble" in Legend of the Holy Drinker. Rutger Hauer plays an alcoholic derelict who comes into a large sum of money. Though his benefactor is a human stranger, Hauer attributes his windfall to Santo Bevitor, or the "saint of drunkards." When Hauer tries to pay back the favor, he is constantly thwarted by society's "better" people. Distinguished by its long, portentous silent passages and by the consistently offbeat performances of stars Rutger Hauer and Anthony Quayle, The Legend of the Holy Drinker (originally La Leggenda del Santo Bevitor) is in the eyes of some observers superior to its source, a novel by Joseph Roth titled Die Legende des Helligen Trinkers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rutger Hauer, Anthony Quayle, (more)
- 1987
Released in the US as Long Live the Lady!, Lunga Vita alla Signora! is an "experience vs. naivety" outing from Italian director Ermanno Olmi. The Lady (or Signora) of the title is a mysterious matron who lives in a crumbling mansion. Six catering trainees are brought to the castle upon its conversion into a resort hotel. They are ordered to prepare a special meal for the old lady, whom none of them ever seen for more than an instant. As the caterers grow in wisdom and sophistication, we learn that the lady may very well be an urbane ghost rather than a flesh-and-blood entity. Lunga Vita alla Signora! is a rewarding experience for those willing to give the film their full undivided attention. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marc Esposito, Simona Brandalise, (more)
- 1984
Views of crowds and street scenes in Milano, Italy during 1983 fill this silent documentary, silent except for the electronic-style music that competes with each frame for attention, and usually wins. Without narration, and with happenstance visual angles that show, for the most part, no discernible conscious attempts at composition, director Ermanno Olmi has not created views of Milano that are likely to hold an audience for any length of time. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
In this engrossing and human tale, Mel (Alberto Fumagalli) is an astronomer-priest who sees a star shoot across the sky one night and realizes that it is a sign that the "King of Kings" has arrived on earth. Excited, he gathers together a rag-tag group of devout believers and with a treasure chest of valuable objects given by the king, Mel starts out with his band. Their long caravan encounters various hardships and adventures, until one day when dawn arrives, they are face-to-face with two other astronomer-priests, one on a camel and the other on an elephant, heading in the same direction. The three Magi (Persian for priest) continue on together, following the star, until they reach Bethlehem. After finding a small baby, they consult with each other -- they had not expected the long and arduous journey to end in a lowly stable, and at the tiny feet of a newborn. And should they inform King Herod of their discovery or not? With in-depth characterization and a scaled-down view of the nature of the Magi and their followers, director and writer Ermanno Olmi has created an interesting, long film (nearly three hours in the cut version) that is entertaining and well-wrought. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
Italian filmmaker Ermanno Olmi's Tree of the Wooden Clogs covers a period of twelve months, dividing its time between three peasant families, all of whom work on the estate of an all-but-absentee landlord. Special emphasis is given the interrelationships between the various family members and their neighbors. Tree of the Wooden Clogs was honored with the Golden Palm award at the Cannes Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
This family drama is a highly personal vision by Italian writer/director/cameraman Ermanno Olmi. It details a summer in the life of the family of a prosperous businessman and his wife. However, there are ominous signs in his life: his company may let him go, his wife finds the family uninvolving, and his son and daughter are now old enough to be independent and somewhat self-centered. His wife finds solace in caring for a young accident victim, his son finds solace in his inventions and in his wife and new child, and the young daughter (who dislikes her mother) in her newfound sense of romance. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1971
In this whimsical Italian comedy, a college professor sees the potential in ordinary people to accomplish great things and believes that they could use a little encouragement. He encourages them by giving them certificates ("patents") of nobility. After he observes a young lady whose qualities he believes could benefit from this treatment, his lofty expectations result in a noticeable improvement in her behavior. At the same time, he is put into jail for fraudulently giving out these patents of nobility. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1969
Gianni (Andreino Carli) is the Italian prisoner of war who returns after spending time in a Russian prison camp. Due to the economic disaster that followed the war, he becomes a scavenger to survive. He soon meets Old Du (Antonio Lundari), the legendary veteran scavenger who has survived two world wars and numerous hardships. Old Du teaches him the fine art of scavenging and the two combine forces to sell their goods in a nearby town. Gianni returns to civilization, and an incredulous Old Du scolds him for abandoning the scavenging lifestyle before he returns to his mountain solitude, happy to be away from society in this symbolic drama. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- 1968
A middle-aged executive (Giovanna Ceresa) questions his values when he is given a promotion. He assumes the top position because his boss suffers a heart attack and another man dies in an auto accident. He has an affair with a fellow employee (Lidia Fuortes) before realizing his job and money are not as important as they once were. His good fortune has come from the resulting misfortune of others as he seeks to strengthen his relationships with friends and family. This feature appeared at the 1969 New York Film Festival. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- 1965
It is no doubt extremely difficult to produce a film which is respectful of a world-renowned and widely loved man, recently deceased, who was considered to be either a saint or well on the way to being one. This unusual biographical film is based on writings (published and unpublished) of Pope John XXIII (born in a peasant family as Angelo Roncalli), who in his short tenure in the papacy began the Second Vatican Council and attempted to reform and liberalize many doctrines of the church, including encouraging the unification of Christians and of all humanity. Every pope after him has been busily attempting to undo most of his liberalizing legacy. This film presents the innovator in his own words, through the device of a narrator (in English, this is Rod Steiger), as he recounts some of the experiences of his life, especially as an ambulance driver in World War II. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rod Steiger, Adolfo Celi, (more)
- 1964
An old man who is a watchman during the winter in an electric power plant and a younger worker feel the generation gap between them in this routine drama. The young man had replaced the older man's longtime partner as the two wait for the winter thaw for the dam to become operational. The brash young student worker and the meticulous veteran become closer when a ferocious storm tests the resolve of both men. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
Absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder as is seen in this romantic drama. The story begins when the young protagonist takes an 18 month long welding job in Sicily. Feeling that he and his fiancee, who have been together so long that their relationship has become stale and predictable, need a break, he looks forward to the trip. He is not long in Sicily before he begins pining for his true love. He tells her his feelings in a postcard and the relationship again begins to flourish. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carlo Cabrini, Anna Canzi, (more)
- 1962
Flitting like the proverbial bee from flower to flower, Valeria (Daniele Gaubert) switches the gender roles in that metaphor as she goes from one relationship to the next with all the ease of trying on a new pair of shoes. Her first love waxes thin while her interest in a mutual friend, Gampiero (Enrico Thibaut) heats up and before she knows it, Valeria has broken one relationship to start another. She and Gampiero have a definite commitment which could be strengthened once Valeria discovers she is pregnant. Yet when they are on the verge of getting married, Valeria changes her mind once again and leaves Gampiero in the lurch. Meanwhile, she has met another interesting young man . . . . ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniele Gaubert, Romolo Valli, (more)
