The 1940s. Sardinia. Efisio Ledda decides that his six year-old son Gavino has to quit attending school and help in the fields with the sheep. The boy is removed from the school after only two months of lessons. For many years his relationship with his father is one of slave and master, love and hate. When he goes to do his military service he is finally able to value himself and the education that his father has robbed him of. He finally succeeds in pursuing his studies, eventually graduating from university and later becoming historian of his culture. The film won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and was the first RAI-produced feature film to become known all over the world (the next would be Olmi'sThe Tree of Wooden Clogs ). The Taviani brothers enjoyed public acclaim, as well as critical success from before, which would accompany them for many years thanks to this little masterpiece. Nanni Moretti appears in a small role (the same year as the release of 'Io sono un autarchico'). He had for years tried in vain to work as an assistant to the two brothers on the set, and would later describe himself in the characters in his first films who wanted to work with him as assistant director (see especially Sogni d’oro ).
