On a northern Italian farm, Batistì and his wife decide to send their son Minec to school, sacrificing his help in the fields but hoping to break the cycle of poverty in the family. But when Minec’s shoe breaks while walking for miles, Batisti puts the family’s future at risk to replace the clog.

One of the great masterpieces of world cinema, Ermanno Olmi’s sumptuous Palme d’Or winner is a richly observed, neorealist portrait of agrarian life in turn-of-the-century Bergamo. A web of family stories is poignantly woven against the stark beauty of the Italian countryside.