Les inconnus de la terre

Mario Ruspoli is regarded as one of the prophets of the 'cinéma verité'. In the early 1960s, a young generation of filmmakers proclaimed in theory and practice the view that the use of light weight cameras with synchronic sound was the only way to save the documentary and provide it with new social and aesthetic impulses. Only in this way, it was thought, could the filmmaker create the necessary atmosphere of intimacy with his leading actors. Together with Canadian cameraman Michel Brault (and his Coutant-Mathot KMT camera) Mario Ruspoli went to the backward French Lozère area for a sociological study on celluloid.
Les inconnus de la terre starts like a traditional feature film: in the beginning of the film all the leading roles are given a short introduction. This is followed by a number of interviews, in which the makers unashamedly appear themselves. They include an interview with a lonely shepherd and one with three unmarried brothers who try to run the parental farm for better or worse. Notwithstanding the fact that this mode of interviewing has now become classical, les inconnus de la terre works rather refreshingly. The film is more than just an enumeration of problems. In an honest way it shows the ties of those involved to the land and to nature, in addition to being a plea for the modernization of French agriculture.