Centochiodi

In a text accompanying One Hundred Nails, Ermanno Olmi announced that this film would be his last narrative production. After this he will restrict himself to making documentaries. The announcement does add a certain weight to the film, that itself already comprises enough statements.
Olmi’s last story is about a young promising professor at the University of Bologna, who is indicted for an offence that is regarded by the church and the university as serious blasphemy. The suspect professor burns his boats behind him and withdraws to a ruin by the River Po, where he comes into contact with the simple yet honest local population that also has an insecure position in society. A friendship unfolds that leaves any professional collegiality behind: Love defeats the written word.
Olmi constructs his story, larded with religious references, using atmospheric images and restraint acting. The dividing line between fantasy and reality is thin and this means that imagination gains freedom and scale. It is this imagination that the director wants to stress as an inner force in every person that cannot be described in any book. (EH)