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peasants' leader-to-be - are born. The film depicts the story <strong>of</strong> three generations <strong>of</strong> the<br />

Berlinghieri family, landed gentry from Parma, interlinked with that <strong>of</strong> the Dalco family, who<br />

are the leaders <strong>of</strong> the peasants who work for the Berlinghieris. While Alfredo grows up with a<br />

great love for his grandfather, and contempt for his arrogant father Giovanni, Olmo does not<br />

suffer from being the illegitimate son <strong>of</strong> the peasant Rosina, as his charismatic grandfather<br />

Leo Dalco is devoted to him and appoints him as his heir as the peasants' leader. Despite<br />

belonging to different social classes, the boys establish a friendship which continues despite<br />

their contrasting political views. After the First World War, Olmo forms a relationship with<br />

Anita, and together they lead the peasants' fight for civil rights. Alfredo falls in love with the<br />

sophisticated Ada, but their marriage is troubled because while she feels disturbed by Fascist<br />

violence, Alfredo takes on an ambiguous, opportunistic attitude, even when Olmo is unjustly<br />

accused <strong>of</strong> murder. In the meantime, Attila, originally the chief <strong>of</strong> an illegal paramilitary<br />

group set up by Alfredo's father to suppress the peasants, has become a feared Fascist<br />

<strong>of</strong>ficial. He forms a relationship with Regina, Alfredo's impoverished and immoral cousin<br />

who wants to take revenge on her family for their disrespectful treatment <strong>of</strong> her. The two are<br />

compatible in their opportunism and cruelty which escalate into a mixture <strong>of</strong> sex and<br />

violence. With the fall <strong>of</strong> Fascism, Attila and Regina are killed by the peasants, while Alfredo<br />

is brought to trial and ultimately saved by Olmo. The final sequence shows Alfredo and<br />

Olmo, now elderly, but still inhabiting the same rural environments; Olmo sits near a railway<br />

line, whereas Alfredo lies on the track itself, just as he and Olmo used to do in one <strong>of</strong> their<br />

childhood dares. But this time, instead <strong>of</strong> lying inside the tracks, he lies across them, so that<br />

the train will kill him as it passes. The train's approach is an iconic representation <strong>of</strong> the<br />

peasants' victory, but the image <strong>of</strong> the elderly Alfredo is replaced by one <strong>of</strong> Alfredo as a<br />

child lying inside the track.<br />

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