Review of Happy as Lazzaro (2018) by Kenr — 21 Oct 2021

Happy As Lazzaro – The Smell Of A Good Man.

Tuscan-born writer/director Alice Rohrwacher has created an Award-winning allegorical observation on how the average person stumbles along, following the ruling classes orders of the day. Most live without stopping to analyze the derogatory impact, this almost hidden manipulation, has on our everyday understanding of the true meaning of life. Curiously, the writer based part of this strange story on a factual newspaper story! The manipulation of the poorer classes by greedy conglomerates - fleecing workers for a pittance in return for endless hard labor. How empty modern lifestyles can offer little more benefits than those of the slave workers, too often pushing the good in humanity to obscurity. It’s not a film for everyone and many viewers may miss important messages within this thoughtful work – perhaps one reason could be because they blindly accept the hidden economic controls, enforced on the world’s working classes. ‘Lazzaro’ is both enigmatic and silently devastating to any viewer prepared to consider how the world’s bankers – pervade every aspect of modern life - often reducing it to rubble for struggling nations. It's little coincidence this film comes to its haunting conclusion inside a bank! It’s a longish tale (2 hrs) so needing a patient, discerning audience. It could possibly have conveyed its thoughtful message in less time but those attuned to reading between the lines of our every day news media...will be quite willing to take the journey. Fascinatingly the filmmaker is able to convince the viewer to accept quite jarring, bizarre twists, as if we trust somehow they are taking us towards a meaningful outcome. Sought after French cinematographer Hélène Louvart provides the darkly probing visuals. There is an interesting piano soliloquy that plays out here and there but the film has no score composer.