Happy as Lazzaro

In the transfiguring and transfixing third feature from Alice Rohrwacher, we find ourselves amid a throng of tobacco farmers living in a state of extreme deprivation on an estate known as Inviolata, with wide-eyed teenager Lazzaro (nonprofessional discovery Adriano Tardiolo) emerging as a focal point. Although this all seems to be taking place in the past (as implied by the warm grain of Hélène Louvart’s 16mm cinematography), a stunning mid-movie leap vaults the narrative squarely into the present day and into the realm of parable. In a fable touching on perennial class struggle with Christian overtones, Rohrwacher summons the spirit of Pier Paolo Pasolini, while also nodding to Ermanno Olmi and Luchino Visconti. A proper time-traveling conclusion to this program’s chronicle of Italian history through cinema. An NYFF56 selection.