Un giorno in Barbagia

Against the backdrop of grazing flocks, of mules on dirt roads, of work with a tractor, of rare figures in a deserted village, a sign explains that "Barbagia is a vast region of Sardinia; Orgosolo, Oliena and Manoiana are villages of shepherds and the men live far away for most of the year, with their flocks" and then specifies that "for this reason the houses and children remain entrusted to the women who cut wood, work the fields and prepare the bread, the shepherds' bread". The animation of the village in the early morning, in the street women dressed in black, holding the hands of children. In a house, an old woman lights the fire in the fireplace, a girl makes herself beautiful in the mirror, a baby in swaddling clothes is cradled. In the fields, women cut shrubs and branches with axes that are bundled into bundles and carried away on their heads. The sound of a horn announces the arrival of the bus that we see entering the village. Small chores at home: coffee, bathing the baby in the tub, picking up clothes. Women wash in a stream, dig the land, take care of the trees. In the village, on the doorstep of a house, a group of women sew. In front of them, the bus passes. At home, the women prepare the dough for the bread, the "pane carasau", put the loaves to bake in the oven, cut it in half. The children, coming out of school, play shouting in a clearing, the girls go round in a circle. The bells ring, the girls jump on a flight of steps, two boys kick a can in a downhill street. A motorcyclist passes a man on a mule. A song in the evening, with an accordion in the background, accompanies the men's return to the village and then the scenes of family life, the dinner, the smoke, the card game, putting the little ones to bed. The distant sound of a bell, rare passers-by, a few lights in the streets: night has fallen on the town. After a day of work, of women's work counterpointed only by the noises of the environment and of existence, by hushed voices and rare songs.