Still, Lazzaro is happy
The Italian director Alice Rohrwacher describes in her great film “Lazzaro Felice” (Happy as Lazzaro) in poetic language how the system changes while poor, exploited people remain poor and exploited, but differently.
In the mountains in the middle of Italy. A small village community lives a simple, idyllic life in harmony with nature. They cultivate the fields, milk the cows, cook, eat and when night falls, everyone goes to sleep. Lazzaro’s place is far above the settlement, with the sheep. Lazzaro is a little slow and always happy. He’s a man of holy simplicity.
In a show of strength, the sharecroppers bring in the harvest. While an employee from another world appears. He commands, he measures the yield of the fields and decides on profit or loss. However, he never fails to give less than the people are entitled to. He is hired by the all-powerful aristocrat, the lady who owns the land, the manor and the people who work for it. During the summer holidays she moves into the villa next to the manor with her grown-up son.
It is an unspecified 20th century time. Yet the small village exists like an undiscovered island in a pre-modern mode. This is due to the unquestioned authority of the lordship, who deliberately and conveniently leaves their workers in ignorance. This became possible because, probably long ago, a storm destroyed the bridge over the river. The path to the world outside is only possible with enormous effort. In the course of a search operation by the police, the village is discovered by a helicopter. Thereby, the serfs are freed.
They now live as destitutes next to the railway tracks in a big city. Lazzaro is looking for a job as a day labourer and thus meets the estate manager again. As a labour broker he sells desperate people into the plantations of industrial agriculture, also. These unwitting job seekers have no choice, but to undercut themselves in a kind of perverse auction. Sometimes the former village community has to provide itself with food through petty criminal acts. And even the completely impoverished noble family manages to profit from them once again.
Still, Lazzaro is happy
The Italian director Alice Rohrwacher describes in her great film “Lazzaro Felice” (Happy as Lazzaro) in poetic language how the system changes while poor, exploited people remain poor and exploited, but differently.
In the mountains in the middle of Italy. A small village community lives a simple, idyllic life in harmony with nature. They cultivate the fields, milk the cows, cook, eat and when night falls, everyone goes to sleep. Lazzaro’s place is far above the settlement, with the sheep. Lazzaro is a little slow and always happy. He’s a man of holy simplicity.
In a show of strength, the sharecroppers bring in the harvest. While an employee from another world appears. He commands, he measures the yield of the fields and decides on profit or loss. However, he never fails to give less than the people are entitled to. He is hired by the all-powerful aristocrat, the lady who owns the land, the manor and the people who work for it. During the summer holidays she moves into the villa next to the manor with her grown-up son.
It is an unspecified 20th century time. Yet the small village exists like an undiscovered island in a pre-modern mode. This is due to the unquestioned authority of the lordship, who deliberately and conveniently leaves their workers in ignorance. This became possible because, probably long ago, a storm destroyed the bridge over the river. The path to the world outside is only possible with enormous effort. In the course of a search operation by the police, the village is discovered by a helicopter. Thereby, the serfs are freed.
They now live as destitutes next to the railway tracks in a big city. Lazzaro is looking for a job as a day labourer and thus meets the estate manager again. As a labour broker he sells desperate people into the plantations of industrial agriculture, also. These unwitting job seekers have no choice, but to undercut themselves in a kind of perverse auction. Sometimes the former village community has to provide itself with food through petty criminal acts. And even the completely impoverished noble family manages to profit from them once again.
"Glücklich wie Lazzaro" Italien 2018, Regie: Alice Rohrwacher / Tempesta
© IMDb (all Photos)
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