One Hundred Nails

Colour, 35 mm
Italy, 2007, 92 min
Section: Open Eyes

About the film

How could anyone have done something so irreverent and absurd? This is what everyone is asking after an extraordinary discovery in the library of Bologna university. The investigation into the bizarre deed leads to a young but respected professor. But he has disappeared from the city, burning all his bridges behind him. Taking nothing with him he sets off alone along the banks of the river Po and comes across a rundown shack by the water’s edge, which he moves into without a second thought. Installed in his new dwelling, he starts to hear the stories of his new friends from the nearby settlement, a colourful bunch of people who have lost their homes. He begins to instil confidence, he shares their simple life and also becomes their adviser, without his neighbours knowing who he is. In this atmosphere of spontaneous harmony, even the surreal seems possible. The character of the professor was played by Israeli actor Raz Degan, a popular model who has also starred in commercials. The 60th Cannes IFF screened the film in honour of a director who won the Palme d’Or in 1978 for The Tree with the Wooden Clogs and who announced that this is his last feature film; from now on he intends only to make documentaries.

About the director

Ermanno Olmi (b. 1931, Bergamo) worked for the company Edison after the war where, in 1951, he established a film centre documenting the construction of a hydro-electric power station in the mountains. He then made a series of documentaries. His feature film debut Time Stood Still (1959), and particularly his next film The Job (1961), were masterful depictions of the atmosphere and psychology of the working environment. He filmed a tribute to Pope John XXIII in his film And There Came a Man (1965). His The Tree with the Wooden Clogs (1978) was a true triumph, winning the Palme d’Or in Cannes. Other films: The Scavengers (1971), The Circumstance (1974), Keep Walking (1983), Long Live the Lady! (1987, Silver Lion in Venice), The Legend of the Holy Drinker (1988, Golden Lion in Venice), The Profession of Arms (2001), Singing behind Screens (2003).