Padre padrone

"Padre Padrone" (Italian, 1977): Directed by Paolo and Vittoria Taviani. A Sardinian boy grows up under the crude and violent shadow of his sheepherder father. Family life is a combination of mind-numbing boredom and crackling moments of fear. The years pass, and almost by accident, the boy (now a man of 20) becomes involved in the larger world. Here begins his struggle to break away from the tyranny of "Father/Master", and make use all that awaits him… but the teachings of his father are NOT that easily left behind. It's an interesting psychological story shown in typical Italian 70's fashion – low production values, lots of overdubbing, and only a slight interest in creating an artful shot (no, most Italian films are NOT Fellini or Antonioni). However, THIS one is worth following. The payoff IS in the story and its message. It's a strong film that reminded me of "Pelle the Conqueror". And a second night of pondering: "Padre Padrone" ("Father Master") is a truly unique look at the relationship between fathers and sons. It's not a pastel image, that's for sure, but it raises some very interesting questions that I think most sons will recognize at some deep, unspoken level. As is always the case with a smart work of Art, the visual level is but the entryway to a broader topic which allows more viewers to relate. No, WE'RE NOT Sardinian, sheep herders, uneducated, or dirt floor poor. No, our fathers probably did not behave exactly as this father did...yet nearly every one of us can sense that the feelings we held towards our fathers (as boys) are somehow addressed in this film. He held the power. To get "out from under" his looming protections and threats, we had to leave. There was no other way to break free of the family dynamic. Upon return, for a visit or temporary living circumstance, we found he had not changed - no one in the family had changed - and the certainty we had that WE had changed while away, was only a facade days away from cracking or collapsing. What did we do? We left again, returned, left, visited, avoided, watched, and waited for "things" to change to SUCH a degree, we could now all settle into a new set of roles.

Despite the other good comments here, I was really shocked at the number of others who put in their two cents who hated this movie. I saw it in a theater shortly after its original release, then several times on video in the late eighties. I hadn't watched it again until a couple of nights ago, mainly as a reaction to seeing some of the imbecilic remarks here. It's scary because after seeing the film again I realize that Hollywood has alot to answer for in manufacturing twisted junkfood audience expectatations with their atrociously slick homogenization of already shallow stories, push button audience emotion manipulation... oh, well, you get the idea. People fed a constant diet of McDonalds don't recognize a good steak when they bite into one.

PADRE PADRONE integrates nearly documentary footage seamlessly with a very realistic, often funny, often poignant but never manipulative depiction of what it's like to grow up the first born son of a nearly impoverished Sardinian shepherd. The beatings the boy receives from his tyrannical father are convincingly shown but in such a way that, especially if you've ever been on a set or involved in filmmaking, you can see that the punches and slaps could be easily pulled without the audience knowing it. The boy's struggle as he grows into a man to express himself and learn how to read and write, no matter how fierce his father's opposition, is truly inspiring because it is so matter-of-fact, so intense but without a shred of the narrative tricks (such as treacly music cues) that Hollywood would pull to needlessly manipulate cheap audience emotion.

There's one scene right near the end just before the young man leaves home again for the final time where he has to go to retrieve the family suitcase from under his parents' bed. His angry, powerless dad sits on the edge as his son gropes under him for the suitcase. The two have already come to blows and life-threatening words. Suddenly the young man sinks his head against his father's leg in a brief second of weary contradictory affection. His father instinctively moves his hand to, at first, comfort the boy. But before his fingers can even touch his son's hair he is possessed by temper and raises his hand to strike him instead. However, we don't see if he strikes him or not because the Tavianis cut to black then we next see the son leaving town, going on to his destiny as a linguist and bestselling writer. This simple scene is one of the most unbearably moving in any film from the last thirty years and indicative of the general excellence of the entire movie. The Taviani brothers have made many other good films from ALLONSANFAN with Marcello Mastroianni, through this, through NIGHT OF SHOOTING STARS and the excellent, 3 hour long anthology of stories by Pirandello, KAOS.

I saw this movie more than 20 years ago, but I have never forgotten it. There is no need for me to repeat what others have said about the plot. Let me just say that the film's use of natural sound is astounding. An illiterate boy is isolated from other people, so he develops a unique understanding of the world's noises. I appreciated the film's critique of paternalism, but even more, I was profoundly moved by the story of a peasant boy who manages to overcome his isolation and fear of his father and learn to read and then to study linguistics.

I am going to buy a copy of this movie for my grandson who is studying film at a university. Despite the fact that he is a young and urban American, I think he will appreciate the humor, the innovative techniques and the themes of this remarkable film.

Padre Pardone, the master piece of theTaviani brothers tells the story of the coming of age of a young illiterate shepherd who's confronted to the tyranny of his father and the inevitable rebellion that happens when the child becomes a man. This movie which tells the true story of the writer Gavino Ledda gives an universal vibe. The relation between father and son is based on love, authority and violence. More then just a family portrait, Padre Padrone is about society. Not just the modern italian society, but each society at each time. This story is about changes and conflict between generation and mentalities. The movie has some really powerful scene like the one when the fathers cry with his son in his arms. The score is composed mainly of sardinian musics, The sardinian score is heartbreaking, just like the movie is....

Vittorio and Paolo Taviani are surely one of the most important Italian directors ever and just like all the great masters they often have their not so brilliant movies, but "Padre Pardone" certainly belongs to the best they ever made. It's all based on a true story and sometimes people tend to forget that there are places that God forget. In an agricultural area in Sardinia some folks pretend it's better to take care of the sheeps rather than scoring well at school. The young Gavino (Fabrizio Forte) goes to his school but one day he's father comes in the classroom telling him that his schooldays are over and that it is time to take up his duty as shepherd. The brothers Taviani are masters in filming the useless factors of the job as we see a young boy who absolutely has no interest in the job he got by his father, and we see some explicit scenes in where the almighty father beat his children. Schoking that's for sure and if the Gavino grows older we see his hunger to learn something (the poor boy couldn't read) as soon as he must enter the world of the army which is in total contrast with the world of the hills where sheep run. The story itself is rather hard to bear and you often shake your head by disbelief but still the Taviani-brothers are opting for a sober and poetic approach of the problem that it looks like you're viewing some touristic documentary of an area that God forgot. "Padre pardone" is certainly the kind of movie that will have both its lovers and enemies but having said that, you know that "Padre Pardone" belongs to the classic section of the Italian cinema that will never be forgotten.