www.frenchfilmfestival.org/film34/adelaide.aspx
Thursday night I was treated to one of the joys of the Sydney French Film Festival, a glimpse into a rural lifestyle fast disappearing. ‘La Vie Moderne’ documents a handful of livestock farmers clinging to traditional life in the high country of the Haute Loire, Hautes Cevennes and Haute Garonne. After visiting for 10 years, often longer, the filmaker had won their reticent trust. Often with few words, a picture was painted of a hard, frugal but meaning rich lifestyle ceding to land taxes, poor markets, children’ wanting careers off the land, and modern expectations of an occasional holiday. One couple, not young, but not long married, had postponed their honeymoon until retirement! In the meanwhile they managed the family farm for the husband’s 2 elderly uncles. Traditionally though, you did not retire. At 88, one uncle still took flocks to the hill pasture twice a day. These old men listened to life. They had little use for conversation. They accepted nature’s cycle; why speak of it? failing health, having to sell flocks and herds, no longer able to cultivate the steep meadows for fodder, watching the scrub take back their lands … The old men were information rich, but deemed the young inadequate learners. To farm successfully in the high country required not just knowledge but lifelong passion. Dialogue was hard won, but this opinion was offered twice! The nephew “had some way to go” and the new wife, although an efficient manager, did not come from the area.
Did these two old men simply begrudge the newcomer? Were they only willing to recognize the innate understanding that comes with being a local? Or did they understand that their farming practices required a learning style that does not fit with modern life; hard to teach; hard to measure; questions not welcome. Did their traditional farming life hold “workplace literacies” that cannot be read, except in the winds and animal behaviour? And did they see their husbandry skills as not transferable, as localized learning? Are these the sort of non-measurable workplace literacies proposed by Christine Bruce? How to arrive at this learning without expert guidance? How to identify what knowledge is required and relevant and what may be safely ignored? Is there an effective structure for learning in this context, except cumulative practical experience?
The uncles understood the “generation gap” in terms of disobedience. The young do not obey without question. But I don’t think it is just obedience to elders we are talking about here; I think it is also obedience to the land. The uncles’ lifestyle of complete obedience to the ways of the land may die with their generation? The film leaves these problems with the second generation down, the nephew’s 15 year old step-daughter, who will not comment. She had come with her mother from far away and was finishing school 150 km away, but had decided to take over the farm in her turn. Her learning the land would have to follow a new path.
Thursday night I was treated to one of the joys of the Sydney French Film Festival, a glimpse into a rural lifestyle fast disappearing. ‘La Vie Moderne’ documents a handful of livestock farmers clinging to traditional life in the high country of the Haute Loire, Hautes Cevennes and Haute Garonne. After visiting for 10 years, often longer, the filmaker had won their reticent trust. Often with few words, a picture was painted of a hard, frugal but meaning rich lifestyle ceding to land taxes, poor markets, children’ wanting careers off the land, and modern expectations of an occasional holiday. One couple, not young, but not long married, had postponed their honeymoon until retirement! In the meanwhile they managed the family farm for the husband’s 2 elderly uncles. Traditionally though, you did not retire. At 88, one uncle still took flocks to the hill pasture twice a day. These old men listened to life. They had little use for conversation. They accepted nature’s cycle; why speak of it? failing health, having to sell flocks and herds, no longer able to cultivate the steep meadows for fodder, watching the scrub take back their lands … The old men were information rich, but deemed the young inadequate learners. To farm successfully in the high country required not just knowledge but lifelong passion. Dialogue was hard won, but this opinion was offered twice! The nephew “had some way to go” and the new wife, although an efficient manager, did not come from the area.
Did these two old men simply begrudge the newcomer? Were they only willing to recognize the innate understanding that comes with being a local? Or did they understand that their farming practices required a learning style that does not fit with modern life; hard to teach; hard to measure; questions not welcome. Did their traditional farming life hold “workplace literacies” that cannot be read, except in the winds and animal behaviour? And did they see their husbandry skills as not transferable, as localized learning? Are these the sort of non-measurable workplace literacies proposed by Christine Bruce? How to arrive at this learning without expert guidance? How to identify what knowledge is required and relevant and what may be safely ignored? Is there an effective structure for learning in this context, except cumulative practical experience?
The uncles understood the “generation gap” in terms of disobedience. The young do not obey without question. But I don’t think it is just obedience to elders we are talking about here; I think it is also obedience to the land. The uncles’ lifestyle of complete obedience to the ways of the land may die with their generation? The film leaves these problems with the second generation down, the nephew’s 15 year old step-daughter, who will not comment. She had come with her mother from far away and was finishing school 150 km away, but had decided to take over the farm in her turn. Her learning the land would have to follow a new path.
No comments:
Post a Comment