An elegy of exile and an epic immersion in the world of rural Italy during the regime of Benito Mussolini, Francesco Rosi's sublime adaptation of the memoirs of the painter, physician, and political activist Carlo Levi brings to the screen a monument of twentieth-century autobiography.
Carlo Levi is a painter and writer from Turin. He also has a degree in medicine but has never practised it. Arrested in 1935 by Mussolini's regime for anti-fascist activities, he is confined to Aliano, a remote town in the region of Lucania, the southern 'instep' of Italy, known today as Basilicata. While the landscape is beautiful, the peasantry are impoverished and mismanaged. They are superstitious and insular; many have emigrated to the United States in search of employment. Since the local doctors are not interested in treating peasants, Levi begins to minister to their health in response to their appeals, establishing a strong relationship with the community. That gradually transforms his understanding of both himself and his country.
"One of the great treats of "Eboli" is its lyric, immersive character, the way it slows down and draws us into its world absolutely. This is a film that takes its time and is the better for it, that allows us to slowly sink into things, much as Levi himself does." (Los Angeles Times)