By Ravi Ahuja
Note: This analysis contains spoilers
A family crowds around a room, celebrating the engagement of a young couple. There is barely anything to eat and even less to drink, but the room is still full of quiet contentment and a sense of community. Although the actual familial lines are fuzzy, there’s no doubt that this group is a family, pulled together by hard work and their collective experience. During the day they harvest tobacco, thresh wheat, take care of sheep, and do whatever else needs to be done in order to survive and make a profit. They have no one else to rely on. Despite their daily hard work, with women, children, and the elderly all doing what they can, they are visited the next day by a man who tallies up their harvest and their expenditures and sadly announces that their debt has only increased. The man, Nicola, is the partner and accountant of the Marquess who owns the land, an estate called Inviolata. The 50 or so people who live there are only sharecroppers scraping by off the portion of the harvest that is theirs. Among them is Lazzaro, a young man with no parents and a persistently happy disposition.
A family crowds around a room, celebrating the engagement of a young couple. There is barely anything to eat and even less to drink, but the room is still full of quiet contentment and a sense of community. Although the actual familial lines are fuzzy, there’s no doubt that this group is a family, pulled together by hard work and their collective experience. During the day they harvest tobacco, thresh wheat, take care of sheep, and do whatever else needs to be done in order to survive and make a profit. They have no one else to rely on. Despite their daily hard work, with women, children, and the elderly all doing what they can, they are visited the next day by a man who tallies up their harvest and their expenditures and sadly announces that their debt has only increased. The man, Nicola, is the partner and accountant of the Marquess who owns the land, an estate called Inviolata. The 50 or so people who live there are only sharecroppers scraping by off the portion of the harvest that is theirs. Among them is Lazzaro, a young man with no parents and a persistently happy disposition.
The family stands around a room with Lazzaro (Adriano Tardiolo) illuminated in the center
Despite the hard work, Lazzaro always does what is told of him with no complaint or hesitation, never even letting the smile slip from his face. Life is just as simple as it appears on the surface for Lazzaro. He desires nothing more than friendship, which Tancredi gives him. The rest of the workers abuse him, having him do any menial or undesirable tasks, not allowing him any break or small luxury. And yet, Lazzaro’s response is to seek more ways to help others, always volunteering his assistance to anyone who seems like they need it, even if they have hurt him or don’t deserve it. He is nothing less than a saint, albeit a simple-minded one.
Lazzaro and Tancredi (Luca Chikovani) playing with a slingshot
Happy as Lazzaro starts with a romantic depiction of rural life, where poverty is overshadowed by the simple pleasures of life in the countryside and having a close-knit community. The movie is shot on 16mm film and formatted with soft rounded edges to add to this warm nostalgic feeling, reminiscent of old polaroids and viewfinders. It doesn’t take long, however, for the audience to understand the reality of poverty. Life is not just simple and charming, but dangerous and hard. The family isn’t just missing some conveniences, they have little food or proper clothing or bedspace. With each passing scene, the illusion of an idealistic pastoral life is stripped further away. Their poverty is only exacerbated by the contrast between their lives and that of the Marquess when she comes to visit Inviolata along with her children.
The Marquess (Nicoletta Braschi) and Tancredi watching the workers
The Marquess’ house on the hill is filled with every luxury and convenience, with the laborers making and serving multiple course meals for her family of four. The beautiful furniture and drawers of silver cutlery seem almost offensive after watching the farmers unscrew lightbulbs to share between rooms. The Marquess smokes cigarettes while watching the farmers work, literally looking down on them from out her window. Her house looms in the background of several outdoor scenes, constantly acting as a reminder of her presence and position over the workers. In a conversation between the Marquess and her son Tancredi, it becomes clear that the farmers do not know that they are working in illegally bad conditions, but the Marquess makes it clear that she does not see what she is doing as wrong. She tells Tancredi, “Human beings are like animals. Set them free and they realize they are slaves locked in their own misery. Right now they suffer but they don’t know.” When Tancredi responds skeptically, she points out the window to Lazzaro toiling away, telling Tancredi “I exploit them, they exploit that poor man. It’s a chain reaction that can’t be stopped.” This view of exploitation as a natural and inevitable process and of human nature as indelibly cruel appears constant through the movie. The strong take advantage of the weak, and the weak survive by taking advantage of the weaker. There is no room to show compassion. The only exception to this rule is Lazzaro, who always does what is right no matter the personal cost.
The farmers threshing wheat while the Marquess and her daughter watch
When the police respond to a missing person call and arrive at Inviolata to discover the illegal sharecropping operation, there is at first a feeling of hope and relief. Finally, the poor farmers have been let out of their cycle of debt and hard work, and will be welcomed into a fairer, modern society. The harsh truth is that the farmers are even poorer and worse off living in the city than they were at Inviolata. Homeless, jobless, skill-less, they have no way of integrating into the modern world. The government is no help to them, proudly stating in a news article that the farmers have been placed in safer housing, while they squat in an abandoned lot. The surviving farmers are much more alone in the city, and have to resort to stealing and scamming rather than be able to work the land. Again, only Lazzaro remains immune to the corruption of the city.
The shift of setting to the city also makes clear the importance of nature, retrospectively making Inviolata seem charming and beautiful again even with the knowledge that their simple life was difficult. They were poor in the countryside yes, but they are poorer still in the city, and their extreme poverty is made even worse by their removal from nature and their community, the only things they’ve ever known. Lazzaro is strongly thematically connected with nature throughout the film, appearing more comfortable outdoors than under a roof. Even when rain comes, he seems content to stand outside while everyone else seeks refuge. Lazzaro can easily find fruit growing to feed Tancredi when he’s hungry, while Tancredi cannot. He is the one who identifies the vegetables growing as weeds in the city, allowing the farmers to regain some connection with the land. Despite the horrible poverty the farmers experienced at Inviolata, the movie does grant that a connection to the natural world is a gift.
The shift of setting to the city also makes clear the importance of nature, retrospectively making Inviolata seem charming and beautiful again even with the knowledge that their simple life was difficult. They were poor in the countryside yes, but they are poorer still in the city, and their extreme poverty is made even worse by their removal from nature and their community, the only things they’ve ever known. Lazzaro is strongly thematically connected with nature throughout the film, appearing more comfortable outdoors than under a roof. Even when rain comes, he seems content to stand outside while everyone else seeks refuge. Lazzaro can easily find fruit growing to feed Tancredi when he’s hungry, while Tancredi cannot. He is the one who identifies the vegetables growing as weeds in the city, allowing the farmers to regain some connection with the land. Despite the horrible poverty the farmers experienced at Inviolata, the movie does grant that a connection to the natural world is a gift.
Lazzaro cleaning trash from the abandoned lot the farmers live on
Happy as Lazzaro is not shy with its critique of capitalism, highlighting the constancy of its exploitative nature. Exploitation and ruthless human rights violations in the name of profits sometimes feels like something from a bygone era, when slaves worked plantations and children worked in factories. The world is surely much fairer today, where children go to school rather than work and everyone is ensured a minimum wage for working. The truth is that the Marquess is right, at least about the inevitability of exploitation within capitalism. It changes in execution and label, but the profit motive remains too important for exploitation to ever truly leave. Slaves became sharecroppers, factory workers became sweatshop workers, and capitalism keeps generating profit. Exploitation is not an evil exclusive to the rich either. When survival depends on profiting by any means, exploitation becomes the natural way of things. Concepts like justice and morality are valued less than money. The marquess is not the only villain in this story, just the richest one. Everyone is selfish and exploitative. The scene where Nicola, the accountant and partner of the Marquess is auctioning off labor contracts perfectly exemplifies the brutal spirit of selfishness that one must have to survive. Groups of immigrants take turns driving down the price of labor in order to secure money and work for themselves. And while it ends up hurting all of them to compete for labor, it is the only real option they have if they want to survive. The farmers too rely on exploitation, scamming the rare people who show them compassion and empathy. Not even the church is immune to this selfishness, refusing to allow the farmers to stay and listen to music for free because they are holding a “private function”. Only Lazzaro remains pure and honest.
Lazzaro walking through the tobacco field
Lazzaro is the foil to this cynical view on human nature. The marquess insists that he too must participate in the cycle of exploitation, that he takes advantage of someone else, but he never does. He helps others purely out of the goodness of his heart, and harbors no resentment even to those who have betrayed him. Lazzaro is a clear messiah figure, showing the other characters and the audience the ideal human attitude and an alternative to the selfishness and greed around him. If everyone were a Lazzaro, exploitation would not have to be the inevitable nature of capitalism. But it is clear how hard such a world would be to reach. Lazzaro is more miraculous than real. Like Jesus, he is brought back to life; like Daniel in the lion’s den, Lazzaro is untouched by the wolves in the wilderness ; like David taking on Goliath, Lazzaro takes on the Bank armed with only a slingshot. And like the saints who died for their faith, Lazzaro too dies at the hands of a mob for doing what he believes to be right. Lazzaro doesn’t end up saving the world, his family or Tancredi. He ends up being exploited and killed. Doing the right thing doesn’t pay off in a society that incentivizes doing the wrong thing. Still, he does seem to inspire some change in the farmers who take him in in the city, showing them how to be at least a bit more selfless and compassionate. The farmer Lazzaro is closest to, Antonia, goes from not even buying a one euro beer for Lazzaro to being willing to spend 80 euros (all of their money) on pastries to thank Tancredi for inviting them to lunch. Even when they are refused at the door because Tancredi forgot about his invitation, Antonia is still willing to leave the pastries as a gift. A true act of Lazzaro.
It seems that Happy as Lazzaro encourages a similar shift towards compassion and generosity. While there are times that survival does depend on making money at any cost, this is only ever true of the most exploited people in the movie. The Marquess does not need to exploit the farmers as she does in order to live. She exploits only because she has learned to value money above all else. Selfishness and immoral actions breed more of the same in one’s own life and in the lives of those around them. But Lazzaro proves that the same is true of selflessness. Goodness is just as contagious as evil. The problem is that selflessness is a revolutionary act in a society that preaches rugged individualism, and compassion is seen as a weakness to take advantage of. Despite the sad fate of Lazzaro and the other tragedies depicted throughout, Happy as Lazzaro shows many beautiful moments of intimacy and real human depth that can’t help but bring some hope that the world doesn’t have to be this way. The woman who stops and helps Antonia and buys her antique cigarette holder shows that Lazzaro isn’t the only one capable of being altruistic. Yes she gets taken advantage of, and anyone willing to show compassion must also accept that as a risk. But greed and exploitation is not a part of the human condition, despite what the Marquess says. Working against societal conditioning is hard, but the only way to ever make it less hard is to do it anyways and get society to begin to slowly change. Just begin asking yourself: what would Lazzaro do?
Happy as Lazzaro is available for streaming now on Netflix (US).
It seems that Happy as Lazzaro encourages a similar shift towards compassion and generosity. While there are times that survival does depend on making money at any cost, this is only ever true of the most exploited people in the movie. The Marquess does not need to exploit the farmers as she does in order to live. She exploits only because she has learned to value money above all else. Selfishness and immoral actions breed more of the same in one’s own life and in the lives of those around them. But Lazzaro proves that the same is true of selflessness. Goodness is just as contagious as evil. The problem is that selflessness is a revolutionary act in a society that preaches rugged individualism, and compassion is seen as a weakness to take advantage of. Despite the sad fate of Lazzaro and the other tragedies depicted throughout, Happy as Lazzaro shows many beautiful moments of intimacy and real human depth that can’t help but bring some hope that the world doesn’t have to be this way. The woman who stops and helps Antonia and buys her antique cigarette holder shows that Lazzaro isn’t the only one capable of being altruistic. Yes she gets taken advantage of, and anyone willing to show compassion must also accept that as a risk. But greed and exploitation is not a part of the human condition, despite what the Marquess says. Working against societal conditioning is hard, but the only way to ever make it less hard is to do it anyways and get society to begin to slowly change. Just begin asking yourself: what would Lazzaro do?
Happy as Lazzaro is available for streaming now on Netflix (US).
RSS Feed
