Overview
A tale of innocence and exploitation unfolds in a rural Italian landscape, where kindness meets cruelty.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- lyrical
- wistful
- compassionate
- reflective evening
- arthouse film night
What critics said
Critics broadly praised the film as a thematically rich, visually inventive social fable with strong emotional and cinematic depth.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Lazzaro's saintly innocence, the wolf motif, and the story's miraculous temporal rupture transform exploitation into a contemporary fable.
The film moves from sharecroppers controlled by a tobacco baroness to a fractured contemporary world shaped by urban precarity.
Lazzaro's tireless generosity and lack of self-interest make the cruelty and opportunism around him sharply visible.
The abrupt shift between the rural estate and later modern society creates a striking bridge between historical exploitation and present-day exclusion.
Films like Happy as Lazzaro, and why
The Wonders
shares an Italian rural setting, spiritual fable tone, class inequality, and magical realism
The White Ribbon
combines compassionate social observation, rural poverty, surreal transformation, and political allegory
The Green Knight
uses an innocent central figure and fantastical storytelling to examine exploitation, poverty, and social exclusion
The Spirit of the Beehive
pairs lyrical fantasy with a critique of class relations, modernity, and institutional exploitation
Movie Details
- Director
- Alice Rohrwacher
- Release Date
- 2018-05-31
- Runtime
- 128 min
- Rating
- 7.4 / 10 (792)
Cast
- Adriano Tardiolo
- Agnese Graziani
- Luke Chikovani
- Alba Rohrwacher
- Sergi López
- Tommaso Ragno
- Natalino Balasso
- Nicoletta Braschi
- Carlo Massimino
- Daria Pascal Attolini
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Happy as Lazzaro about?
- An impossibly kind peasant becomes a living fable of friendship, exploitation, and the uneasy passage from rural bondage to modern precarity.
- What is Happy as Lazzaro like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Happy as Lazzaro as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Happy as Lazzaro violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Happy as Lazzaro as mild.
- What did critics think of Happy as Lazzaro?
- Critics broadly praised the film as a thematically rich, visually inventive social fable with strong emotional and cinematic depth.
- Which films are like Happy as Lazzaro?
- Films with a similar feel include The Wonders, The White Ribbon, The Green Knight, and The Spirit of the Beehive.
- How long is Happy as Lazzaro?
- Happy as Lazzaro runs 128 minutes.
- Where can I watch Happy as Lazzaro?
- In United States, Happy as Lazzaro streams on Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads.
