My father, my master = Padre, padrone.

This brutal film is based on the autobiographical novel of the same name by Gavino Ledda which describes his youth and early adulthood as a shepard in the barren hill region of Sardinia. As a five year old Gavino was forcibly removed from school by his harsh peasant father who treated his eldest son as violently as he had been treated by his father before him. The illiterate Gavino eventually joined the army and educated himself to a point where he could stand up to his father and reject ancestral tradition and expectation. Though influenced greatly by Italian neo-realism, “Padre Padrone” also incorporates elements of fantasy and magical realism to convey the epic sweep of Gavino’s story. The author appears as himself in the prologue and epilogue. Both harrowing and deeply humanist, “Padre Padrone” richly deserved the Palme D’Or it won at Cannes in 1977.