"WOODCUTTING" "Such a terrible life and such a painful life, who hasn't tried it can't possibly imagine it." "I believe a soul condemned to hell cannot suffer as much nor have the heartbreak and pain as the coalman and woodcutter." "He leaves home with a light heart, along with other comrades leaves his wife immersed in sorrow and kids barefoot and naked as spiders, saying, "If my sweat will do any good, I hope to get good wages."" ""And that way you'll see all together my dear children clothed."" "Entering the dense and dark forest, it seems as if you won the lottery." "To find the best fortune, one would go to the moon." "A cabin is made of earth and stones like a shelter of yew trees." "They endure under those clods with their heads on the ground like turnips." "We were practically like a family today." "Stop at the shop." "Ah, Guillermo!" " How are you, Aunt?" "Fine." "And Caterina?" "Come in." "Don't you want to go home?" " No, I'll eat some soup and then go." "It's on the fire, ready." "Sit down awhile." "Have you been away from home long?" " No, since Monday." "Where'd you come from?" " From Massa." "I was buying a felling." "Why so far?" "It suits me." "Are you going to cut it?" " Sure, me and the usual guys." "It's been months since I've seen Caterina." "I'm old and don't like to walk about." "I can imagine the work there is with those girls." "That girl is an angel." "Ah, that's true." " See, Guillermo, in your misfortune you're lucky at least:" "A sister who takes care of the kids." "Yes, at least in this I can feel lucky." "I wouldn't know what else to do." "I would be forced to marry again." "Hey, Lina!" " Coming!" "8:15." "They'll all be in bed." "Go on, pooch!" "Do you need anything?" "I've already eaten." " We weren't expecting you tonight." "I got back earlier." "The girls are fine." "Were you able to get it?" "Yes, I go on Monday." "You really don't need anything?" "It's no big deal to heat up something." "No... go back to bed." "You'll catch cold." "Look, Dad, what a nice dress I have." "Oh!" "That's really nice!" "But it is new." "And you?" "Nothing to say to me?" "Come here, give me a kiss." "Me too, me too!" "I want to hug you!" "Ah, you come too." "Now, daddy has something nice for you." "This is for you." "Be patient, Guillermo." "Now isn't the time." "You'll get everything dirty!" "You'll have it later." " Up!" "I'll take them outside to get some sun." "Are you coming too?" "Yes, yes, Dad!" "You come to." "I've things to do in town." " It's Sunday." "What could you have to do?" "Besides, much time will pass before you can see them again." "You go." "I can't." "Go." "Fine, we'll go." "Let's go." "From here you can get an idea." "By the left, following the road, there are two points where it begins." "On the right, it extends to the felling." "Then there is a split which stretches to the stream." "As you see, the top part is the best." "But the bottom is junk, low scrub, a maze, full of..." "You'll never cut it!" " OK, OK, I get it." "But admit that 3 hectares of chestnuts and 4 or 5 of scrub at this price is a steal." "In your district, you would've paid double." "Come!" "Let's select the spot for the cabin." "Hey, Germano, did you hear what the boss said?" "It's good business for him." " But not for us!" "But you have a job?" " 5 months at least." "After all, woodcutting is better work than a farmer's." "The misfortune is to have been born here, apart from being a farmer or woodcutter." "What else do you want to do?" "Being a woodcutter, you see something of the world." " World?" "Bah!" "Maremma is all the same:" "You walk and walk without meeting anyone and you never get anywhere." "And where would you go?" " I don't know." "Somewhere." "Somewhere." "That's it... somewhere." "Let's go!" "Put it there." "Put the clods in the chimney." "Damn it!" "You were happier last night with the farm girl, eh?" " And you, your wife!" "That's life." "For the moment there's no other man and you must work." "Watch out, Francesco!" "Hey, Fiore!" "Not bad, eh?" "I don't know what the prices will be but whatever." "It can go either way." "Yeah, maybe I could've waited for a better opportunity, but the main thing is to keep working." "By God, if I kept going on without doing anything, I'd be in a nuthouse." "I feel like I'm reborn." "Quick, Guillermo!" "There it goes!" "Look!" "Look, a pheasant!" "If I had a gun, I'd bring it home for Christmas." "But until the 31st, there's a ban." " Ah, right, I forgot." "Hey!" "Don't dirty the water, OK?" "But look, boys, what nice water is over here!" "Hey, can I wash now?" " One moment!" "Now you can." "Look, a piece of ice." " It's the season." "I pity the women." "Really?" "They must work too." "It's right that way." "When a man works, a woman just shouldn't stand around." "I wouldn't like it." "Working like a black and the woman at home playing the lady." "If the army hadn't intervened," "I would've spent the summer without getting married." "Hey, Guillermo, how old were you when you got married?" "28." " Hmmm, unlucky number!" "Because of this, we can trust our women." "In the north it's something else." "After the war, I stayed in the army a year." "You should see how the women are up there!" "Such liberty, even in their language!" "We Tuscans stared with open mouths." "Look what hands!" "Worse than an ax." "Water is the worst of all." "Ruined my wife's hands last year." "So bloody she couldn't wash or scrub for a month." "Luckily, with the good weather she recovered." "Luckily?" "Some luck, three months later she was dead." "Hey, Germano!" "Guess what this is?" "You're not a blackbird." "You're like a thrush." "Where's your beak?" "Tell me who you are?" "What?" "You're not a blackbird." "You're like a thrush." "Where's your beak?" "Tell me who you are?" "Fine, tell me what it is." " It's a toad!" "A toad?" " What else could it be?" "I don't know how you smoke that." "More like gunpowder than tobacco." "And yours isn't tobacco, it's straw!" "I once knew a guy who made Amadeo's tobacco seem like sugar." "He mixed dry cabbage leaves, peppercorns and loam." "Would it by any chance be Peppino?" "Who used to fish for leeches?" "No." "It wasn't Peppino." "It was Peppino's brother." "What?" "He had a brother?" "This tobacco stinks too." "It could kill all the mosquitoes in the area." "This pipe was given to me by a magician." "He used it for his spells." "I just need the four of diamonds." "It was gift from Gianni Diavolo (Devil)." "What?" "Gianni Diavolo a witch?" "This is too good!" "Of course he is." "Otherwise his name wouldn't be Gianni Diavolo." "I know Gianni Diavolo." "He lives a stone's throw from my house." "He seems a normal guy." "You should've been on the Fosini Farm!" "I'm talking about 10 years ago." "Don't speak such nonsense!" "What happened at the Fosini Farm?" "Extraordinary things, things never seen!" "Did asses fly?" " That's right!" "Asses were flying, horses, oxen and all kinds of animals!" "I heard about it too." "How is that possible?" " Because there were witches." "At night they rode on those poor animals and in the morning they were found bathed in a sweat." "They went to Rome and back." "Why Rome?" " For sacrilege." "Then they called Gianni Diavolo and nothing else happened." "Yes, because Gianni Diavolo has a cure for all diseases." "For animals and for Christians." "Didn't you call him when your wife was sick?" "No." " What type of sickness did she have?" "Something with the kidneys." "An inflammation." "They didn't know anything!" "First the doctors said the kidneys." "Then maybe the blood." "Who knows what it really was?" "She was dead in 12 days." "That's all." "Come, Francesco, tell us a story." "There was a time I knew so many!" "But my memory fails me now." "The one about Palorsini, the one of the Mangulle goat and the Beauty of the Sun." "That one about the Beauty of the Sun was a long one!" "It took 3 days to get to the end of it." "Ah, then tell it if you want." "It can begin now and end the day after." "I tell you I don't remember!" "Begin and you'll remember." "A long time ago, the king of Portugal had a daughter." "In honor of who, he organized a great hunt." "There came many kings and knights." "The first place was taken by the King of France." "The third place, which was the greatest, was taken by Guidobaldo and he yielded it to the king's daughter." "My son died too in 12 days." "A high fever came on suddenly." "He was as dead, couldn't speak again." "My wife couldn't speak in the last days too." "She would just look at me." "Then, feeling that she was not understood, she would turn her face to the wall." "The tears would run down her face and I would dry them." "I tried to catch her eyes." "But she insisted on looking at the wall." "And yet, she wanted to tell me something." "What did she want to tell me?" "Watch out, Amedeo!" "Aren't you coming?" " I prefer the mountain to home." "You should've been born a bear." " A bear indeed!" "Well, then." "Have you decided?" " No, I'm staying here." "Tell my sister I was afraid of getting burnt out from the trip." "Tell her I felt bad leaving Fiore alone." "And for just two days..." "Let's go!" "It's a long way to Massa and if we miss the bus, goodbye vacation." "See you soon!" "Hey, are you up to finishing the cutting?" " We'll save some for you!" "The job is going OK." "Don't you think?" "It could go better." " It's been easy til now." "Yes, but with the dense thicket, we'll lose time." "Not as bad as last year." " Much worse!" "But that was totally inaccessible!" "Of course with the weather we had, we had a winter little seen before." "Maybe, considering the weather, we made a mistake by not starting with the thicket." "Anyway, we can't compare this with that thicket." "Three times worse!" "It'll be Christmas too." "Better to work." "I can't be long without doing anything." "I should have gone." "Oh, my God!" "I'll end up worse than Fiore." "Maybe that's not so bad." "He, at least, doesn't suffer." "Not even for his son's death." "Better to be like Fiore." "Or like Francesco." "Who has no one." "How are you?" " Good." "We camped an hour from here." "Can you lend us some yellow flour?" "We had it for Christmas at the Marsiliana farm but we forgot it." "How many are you." " 18, all from Pistoia." "Come in." "Have some "dry-sweat"." "Thank you!" "Your health!" " Did you light the fire?" "It began to cook after the new year." "We'll return it the day after tomorrow." " We'll come for it next Sunday." "If you go down by the stream, no way you can miss us." "Maybe I'll find there the coalmen I need." "There's none in Maremma." "You'll need a good one with this soaked wood." "Yeah." "Thank you." "See you later." " Later." "Good night, folks!" "They're all asleep." "Amedeo!" "Amadeo." "What?" "How is Caterina?" "Fine." "She was sad you didn't come." "But you explained?" " Actually, we spoke only a little." "She understood all the same." "Did you see the girls?" " I saw the older one." "Everything OK in your home?" " Thank God, yes." "How much longer, boss?" " Almost there." "Where are the men?" " Up ahead." "Germano!" "Come on!" "Didn't you know?" "The Pistoia guys bring their wives." "They not only wash and cook but help cut and burn." "I saw." "They even wear pants!" " And smoke!" "But how?" "Do the men and women sleep together?" "Of course." " Not too shabby!" "Good afternoon!" " Afternoon." "Making another cabin?" " For a group coming soon." "Let's drink." "Your boss does things big, eh?" " Ah, he wants it that way." "Your health!" " Thanks." "Was it much trouble finding us?" " No, we know the area well." "You're from the area?" " No, not here." "Tirli." " Tirli?" "I went to cut once at Tirli." "I also came to find a coalman." " There are some good ones in my town." "When do you need them?" " The second half of February." "Ah, don't worry." " Yes, but the pay..." "Ah, we'll come to an agreement!" "Have you seen those Pistoian guys?" "They have a group like us, work like us, but at least have their wives, though you can only tell by their hair." "We are all poor men the same." " Yeah, more or less." "Let's go!" "Hey, hey!" "Giddyap!" "Go!" "Hear how it rains, Fiore." " I'm not deaf!" "Let's hope it ends soon." " If it keeps up, there'll be flooding." "Not even you should think that!" "Nothing, nothing to do." "Today we can't go out." "I thought it'd destroy the cabin and all." "Rough weather!" "What is it?" "Not even a cannon shot could wake you!" "Ah, to be young!" "Hey, guys!" "It raining inside." "You've finally noticed." "Damn." " What is it?" "A drop fell on my cigarette and put it out." "Boys, coffee is ready!" "I can't wait 'til I get drafted." "What do you hope for?" " Better than this." "Don't complain, boy." "I wish I was 20 years old." "Here you get up at 5." " And there at 4." "I wish they send me to Venice if the women are like they say." "Watch out you don't get married." "You couldn't keep cutting wood." "Why not?" "The branches would keep hitting your horns!" "Come, let's play a game!" " What?" "In the morning?" "What difference in the morning or not?" "For us, it's always night." "Come on, pick up the cards." "Francesco and me against you and Fiore." "Why do I think of these things?" "Why do I do these calculations?" "What I care about winning 1000 lire more or less?" "Guillermo!" "The coffee is getting cold." "Seven and three tens." "I play a seven." "I play an ace." "What time is it?" " A clean sweep!" "It's four." "We won't be going out today." "How are we going to pass the day?" "Life passes and you think one day won't?" "I want to go out to California where you live without a care." "Would you go to California, Amedeo?" "If I could, I would." "Then take me with you." " If you want to." "It's time to put water in the pot and make polenta." "Guillermo?" "Want to take his place?" " No, I just like to watch." "How many did you deal?" " I have 20 cards." "Here's your cards." "You?" " With this, three." "Deal again, go on!" " Fiore!" "Shall we wait for Fiore?" " He'll be back." "Moriani was killed here." "Germano!" " Together with his brother." "Who became a bandit too to be near him." "While at Brescia, a third of a band captured him alive." "But here?" "Maybe you mean Castelnuovo?" "No!" "Here, here!" "Where we are cutting!" "Go on!" "They killed him at Castelnuovo." "My poor grandpa saw it." "They exhibited him for 2 days." "He was killed at the Three Trees." "You at least know that!" "I think that's why the site is called that." "The Three Trees were exactly the same oaks we cut down 3 days ago." "You didn't realize it." "The trunks still had the bullet marks." "Yet, I always heard..." " Let him finish." "It was a tip-off." "Else, they wouldn't have been captured not even in 100 years." "When they saw they were surrounded..." "Has it stopped raining?" "It's snowing, guys." "Hey!" "Spring is here, boys!" "Buck up, boys." "These are the last to chop." "It'll be done by this afternoon and tomorrow we can go home." "Well..." "you think your girl will still be free?" "I couldn't care less." "I'll find another." "I'll introduce you if you like." "Why?" " Because your wife will have forgotten you." "Leave it to me to refresh her memory." "Hey!" "Let's hurry if we want to finish this afternoon." "A daisy!" "How wonderful!" "Are we going?" " Let's go!" "Why comb your hair?" "Get real!" "See you later, boss!" " See you." "Why don't you come too?" "No, I must organize something here before the coalmen arrive." "Tell Caterina that I'll be back home the morning after." "Goodbye!" " Goodbye." "Oh, station master, please let the train leave!" "Make it fly like an express!" "I want to go back to my neighborhood." "Hear how Amedeo hollers!" "And he's right." "Life is beautiful for him." "I'm done." "I'll clean up and go home too." "See you in town." " See you later!" "Need a hand?" "You still up?" " Eh!" "I thought you were asleep." " I couldn't sleep." "Now that the coal is smoking well, we can have a smoke too." "This isn't tobacco, it's gunpowder!" "Not many people can smoke such a tobacco." "I believe it." " But you see, a lighter tobacco wouldn't suit me." "What do you expect?" "We're used to the smoke and ash of the coal." "Your cigarettes seem to us like girl stuff!" "A coalman's life is hard." "What do you woodcutters think?" "I know a worse job." " And what would that be?" "Mining." "I was in the Boccheggiano mines to sell planks." "I saw the state of the men coming out of the wells." "How much do they work?" "How long is their shift?" "8 hours, I think." "What are 8 hours compared to 72?" "They do 8 hours of work and 16 of rest." "We do 3 days of work and 1 of rest." "That is the difference." "Trust me, life underground is the worst thing there is." "Here at least, if there is an accident, you're outdoors." "Oh, no!" "There's no worse job than coalman!" "How many years have you been doing it?" " 40." "I started with my father when I was 11." "My son, on the other hand, didn't want to learn it." "After military service, he got married in Venice." "He stayed there as a day laborer." "Of my two daughters, one died and the other is a maid in Modena." "So you're left alone with your wife." "I'm the last of all of them." "My wife died last year." "We're alike then." "I have become a widower too." "7 months ago." "It's a bad thing to be left alone." "Especially at my age." "There isn't a difference anymore between the time I'm working and when I'm home." "I'm alone at work." "I'm alone at home." "I must get food for every month of the year." "And if get sick, nobody notices." "Just as if it happened in the woods." "For you, the situation is different." "You're young, energetic and can marry again." "No, I..." "I feel averse to giving my daughters a stepmother." "How old are you?" "35." " It wouldn't scare me if I were 35." "Yes, misfortune is great, but it's not like when you are old." "There is time to think." "The coalmen do nothing but think." "And what would you think of more than your home?" "For 30 years, I've been thinking about it." "You work alone and go back to the cabin and think of home, a wife and children." "You know, we come down from the mountain after collecting chestnuts." "And go back at the beginning of the summer." "In all these months, you don't find yourself exchanging 10 words with anybody." "They say we are unsociable." "But it is our job that makes us so." "And yet, I used not to complain." "The memories of my house, the chestnuts, kept me company." "However now, I try not to think." "There's no one left to wait for me." "This is the difference between life before and now." "I try not to think about it but I think of nothing else." "What else should I think about?" "He is alone." "I have my sister, my daughters," "Yes, I have people who love me." "My children..." "Oh, my God!" "Oh, my God!" "Oh, Guillermo, is it you?" "How long has it been?" " Evening, Aunt Lina." "I want a drink." "Want more?" "How are you, Guillermo?" "My God, Aunt Lina!" "Always worse." "Go home, Guillermo." "It's been 5 months since you were gone." "You would like to see the girls, right?" "Rosa!" "Help me!" "Send me some resignation." "Need a hand, Guillermo?" " No thanks, Oreste." "I'll do it by myself." "End." "English subtitles by sineintegral@KG"