Padre Padrone ed i fratelli Taviani

Let it be known that I watch an exceptional amount of Italian movies, mainly because they help me with my listening comprehension and I would like to think that I am learning about Italian culture through them. Last night I finally watched "Padre padrone" by the Taviani brothers, Paolo and Vittorio. This is the second Taviani movie I have seen, the first one being "La notte di San Lorenzo" (English title: The Night of the Shooting Stars).
I did not like "Padre padrone" that much, although I'm certain there are some things in it that I didn't understand due to the fact that I'm American. The movie is mainly about an overbearing father and his eldest son, Galvino, and the father's desire to make Galvino into a shepherd, even if Galvino detests the life. It bothers me to think that this is a realistic look at life in rural Italy (at least in the 1970's), since the first half of the movie was Galvino being beaten fairly consistently by his father; however, once Galvino became a man some fantastic changes happen in his life and he eventually rises from being an uneducated, poor man to a well-respected scholar.
I thought the premise for this movie was very hard to watch at times, but stylistically I enjoyed it. The Taviani Brothers know how to use the camera to alter the mood of the movie, jumping back and forth between points of view. There was also some wonderful music in this movie, although there were times when I thought the music was inappropriate for the scene (or visa versa). I would not recommend this movie to other students of Italian due to its coarse view and troubling themes, but for the Italian-movie buff, I think it is well worth the watch.

I've been working on some more translations, but the songs are so long and when I run into words that are not in any of my dictionaries (ho cinque dizionari!) I become upset and stop for a while. Then there's the fact that I'm translating multiple things at a time, which extends the time of completion. I've also been distracted with Star Wars (the movies, the Lego game for the Wii), work, and the fact that school starts in a week. I bought most of my books today: under $200 for the semester for the both of us. In fact, Anthony does not have to buy anything for this round: all the classes he's in I have already had, and I never resell my books.

Maybe in the future I'll write a completely Italian post (it's in my capacity to do so), but I'm really tired today. Forgive me, my imaginary readers!