One evening in 1917, on the Altopiano, on the Italian side of the north-eastern front. A troop of soldiers is holding out in a snow-covered command post. One of them sings so beautifully and powerfully that the other side is also delighted. Orders arrive. People die, if not from enemy action, then by their own hand. The next morning, a hush falls over the young day. It will consist of similar incidents. And then one day everything will be different again.
Since One Houndred Nails (Centochiodi) (2007), Ermanno Olmi has claimed that each of his feature films is his last - and yet the Catholic humanist always comes up with something that still needs to be said. Greenery Will Bloom Again (Torneranno i prati) (2014) leads back in many respects to his feature film debut, Time Stood Still (Il tempo si è fermato) (1958): as if he wanted to close a parenthesis. Both works tell of men in the snow, long nights, new mornings. Both crystallize a vision of the world, characterized by a serene cheerfulness and confidence. Olmi may have lost his trust in the church over the years, but not his faith in God and his creatures, starting with people.
