Paolo and Vittorio Taviani first garnered critical acclaim with this masterly adaptation of Gavino Ledda's autobiography, winning both the Golden Palm and the Critics Prize at Cannes in 1977. Gavino's father pulls him out of elementary school at the age of 6 to force him into the harsh life of a shepherd, often severely beating him. Yet Gavino's illiteracy spurs him on to eventually earn a university degree in linguistics. His journey from the cruel, solitary world of shepherding under the yoke of his tyrant Padre, to that of a writer and a linguist is a moving, uplifting story and masterpiece of Italian cinema.