Peasant life in Italy

Press, 1 December 1983, Page 10

Peasant life in Italy

“Eboli,” which takes an absorbing look at peasant life in arid south-central Italy during the 19305, begins tomorrow at the 8.15 p.m. shows at the Academy. The film is based on the experiences of Carlo Levi, a poet, painter, doctor and political dissident who was exiled from Rome by Mussolini’s fascists. His book, “Christ stopped at Eboli,” has become a small modern classic — meaning that if you have not read it, you have at least heard of it. Levi describes the people of the area as “hedged in by custom and sorrow ... without comfort or solace.” He seems to be saying that the simpler the life that people lead, the more resistant it is to the forces of change, even when those forces are backed by coercive power. “Pictures,” which follows the lives of two English photographers in New Zealand during last century’s colonial days, will continue at the Academy at the 6 p.m. sessions.

It will be preceded by two films made by students of the School of Fine Arts, at the University of Canterbury: “Small Journeys,” 15min, by Maree Quinn; and “Chameleon,” 4min, by John Griffin, and starring Janetta Mackay.