Padre padrone

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....

Based on the true story of author Gavino Ledda, we follow his life growing up on a Sicilian farm where he is subjected to the brutal realism of his father. It all begins when he is taken out of school at a very young age because dad (Omero Antonutti) needs him to tend the sheep and keep them safe from snakes, wolves and bandits! He's barely two foot tall at this stage. This is the template for much of the rest of his childhood as his education is sacrificed to keep them fed and housed. Reaching his adulthood he finds himself manoeuvred into joining the military by his father - a responsibility that rather backfires on the older man as Gavino (now Saverio Marconi) proves not only that he is quite capable of learning - not just the basics of reading and arithmetic, but of understanding the complexities of electrical engineering and radio operation. He decides to return to Sicily after his time in the army, but much more on his own terms and to study at university. Naturally, his disappointed father has other ideas - but can these two men reconcile and Gavino learn to (or want to) forgive his father? Initially, it's really quite easy to loathe the paternal character. Save for one tiny semblance of affection (after a beating) he shows no emotional connection to his son at all. As the film progresses though, it becomes slightly easier to understand that this man comes from a long line of people with little hope, living an hand-to-mouth existence with no education and little belief in opportunity. Is it despite him or partly because of him that Gavino has such an independent spirit? Marconi delivers strongly here and both he and Antonutti sustain the degree of familial tension as both realise that change is inevitable. Change and ageing. I like the indefinite nature of the conclusion - it's all a work in process and one I found quite compelling to watch.

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.

The life of an Italian peasant who was forced out of school by his father so as to be a shepherd in the remote country side. The loneliness and the father's brutality has an effect on the boy who grows up to be a late learner in reading and writing. This new knowledge he uses as a weapon against the everlasting battle with his tyrant father. The first half drags on but the second half all comes together.

(1977) Padre Padrone (In Italian with English subtitles) AUTO BIOGRAPHICAL

Adapted from the book by Gavino Ledda written and directed by Paolo Taviani and Vittorio Taviani that has a father (Omero Antonutti) pulling his very young son, Gavino (Fabrizio Forte) out of class to get him to work as his sheepherder. He does though promises his son a proper education by the time he reaches the age of twenty years. As we see Gavino as a little boy with strict orders to the time the movie jumps to as soon as he turns twenty years old, Saverio Marconi how he obtained his first musical instrument, which is an accordion. And of course, when Gavino's father promised him an education, he only able to learn how read and write through the correspondence once he was enlisted in the military.

That although the father had other siblings, why is he the most hard on him when there are others who can work on the farming and the gardening as well. It states the father's abuses as well as his ways but without any explanation or clarity about his reasons why he does the things that he does which raises more questions than it answers, and instead expect viewers to accept the way it was.

At the opening of the movie, viewers see an adult man carving the twigs out of a thin tree limb before he hands it to the father who was pulling his son out of class at a very young age. At the time I didn't think much of it up until the very end where he is shown again and this time he tells viewers he is Gavino Ledda and is 35 years old. That the young man I saw at the opening is what "Gavino Ledda" looked like now the current time the movie was made back in 1977.

It was also interesting how, the we be able to hear what some of the characters are thinking and not just it's two main characters of Gavino and his father.