Reviews

I went to see this film because I know the area a bit. I got a lot of local color, but they never showed me the Castello where there used to serve doubtful olive oil. I also got a well-woven story in color which projects the joy of film-making and the joy of acting. The film takes its time, it sits you down a bit, and it needs every minute for it. The women are amazing, strong and confused and desperate and angry and young and deeply religious. The ebb and flow of their relationship is pleasant and important. Conversations are never vague or distracted. The film tells you a lot about the wind in the olive orchards. Spatial information, the roads, the rooms, the relationship between the farm and the sea is sparse, it just tells you what you need to know. Stereotypes? the good-for-nothing guys. Ideology: Agriculture, the ability to live off the land. The green Fiat with the cross hanging off the mirror establishes a vagueness of times. this film is not concerned about 2014. The "crisi", the economic downturn and the lack of petrol is depicted almost as a mythic event. Some men go to Switzerland and drift out of the picture. The credits include Maria di Leuca and a dental studio.

Forza! Enjoy! A great film.

Interesting format, fast paced, intense with pathos and beauty, a complex ode to Italy, but here Italy is everywhere. Surely, not to be judged on the likeness of a national portrait, but on the quality of the cuts and transitions. Very basic material: Waking up, cooking, eating lunch, going to bed, clouds passing, but sufficiently philosophical and fast so it never gets boring. There are a few temptations of Youtube here (animals, cats), but I can live with that. Worthwhile, not so much for what it may teach you about Italy, but for what it may show you about the love of humans for other humans. Neighborhood dances! Also great: Babies experiencing the wonder of water. No guns, either!