"You'll be
his first kiss
his first love
his first friend
You are his momma
And he is your whole world"
I have selected this mother-son verse for my review because it seems to accurately correspond to this movie's core idea. As one of the first features by Italy's controversial yet versatile talent, Pier Paolo Pasolini, MAMMA ROMA is a movie which remains strongly in the memory of the viewer due to, as a New York Times reviewer Bosley Crowther pointed out, its "bottomless well of emotions," its sensuality and "dark iconoclasm." Nothing is black and white, everything is highly complex, more to say: CONTRADICTORY. Having so many ideas blended, mixed, out of place, the film is an altogether shocking experience. While Pasolini's other films may occur too bizarre and "feverish" (Crowther) for some viewers, this one is actually a striking combination of the director's perversion and genius.
As much as MAMMA ROMA may be considered a descendant of Italian Neorealism being an almost 'successor' or 'sequence' to Rossellini's ROMA CITTA APERTA (additionally, the presence of Lamberto Maggiorani echoes DeSica's masterpiece BICYCLE THIEVES uttering his only word in the movie - "al ladro"), it is an unpredictable, surprising mixture of the classic and the modern, the Greek 'cosmos' vs. 'chaos' and a board for Renaissance painting, baroque music, classical literature, mystical Catholicism and Freudian psychoanalysis. Something that perhaps only Pasolini was able to do without the finale of 'scandalous rage' and oblivion.' In the title itself, the city of Rome (the locale of the story), different from its ancient power and arrogance, from its medieval capital of pilgrim destination, from its 1945 crisis, the Rome of 1962 is, satirically, personified by a prostitute (almost on the verge of blasphemy with an association with Salus Populi Romani - Madonna in Santa Maria Maggiore called by some 'Mamma di Roma'). But she is not Fellini's Cabiria (though there are certain parallels, particularly in the desire of change), but far more: a mother, title Mamma Roma played brilliantly by Anna Magnani.
Although much could be said about this blended aspect of literary/artistic/musical/religious sources (all of which Pasolini himself personified) - the aspect that is nicely developed by Jim's FilmWebsite (where he discusses Vivaldi concerto in the scenes of emotional tension along with Leonardo da Vinci frescoes of "madly inappropriate Biblical references" - referring to Crowther's words), for that reason, another review would be necessary. In the context of art, the director of photography, Tonino Delli Colli deserves full credit making some scenes look almost magically meaningful. But, as this requires more in depth analysis, let me focus more on this title character or more, two characters that make the whole film an emotional and psychological feast. They foremost make the film worth seeing.
ANNA MAGNANI: All tensions somehow meet their realization in the immensely meaningful yet complex persona of Mamma Roma. When she sings, she sings with joy, when she plays, she plays with passion, when she looks at us, her eyes tell everything. Although there were many roles in her life, this is actually the most appealing one. Initially not very enthusiastic about the role, the vibrant contrast and absorbing vitality results. I would agree with Jim's article that her performance is "earthy and passionate (...) simultaneously hilarious and tragic, realistic and stylized." Apart from the "enormous bags under her eyes," she plunges herself into the story as hardly anyone else as a mother and a prostitute. Who can forget her brilliant confessions to all people around in the nocturnal streets of Rome or her final tragedy. But we cannot analyze her alone. She is fully realized along with her son, Ettore, a boy bitten by the lizard of his mother's past and the lizard of money and destructive greed.
ETTORE GAROFOLO embodies wandering youth, wandering puberty being constantly in search of something. With his fellows, he is like one of the Apostles from IL VANGELO SECONDO MATTEO; alone, he is Pasolini's world in itself. Inspired by Caravaggio's "Boy Bitten By a Lizard" he is both pure manifestation of Pasolini's view of a young man along with his immensely appraised maturing sexuality as well as a product of psychoanalytical aspects. In him, the struggle is the stimulus and response, the source and the goal, the mother as a haunting love, a haunting desire and a girl, Bruna, as freedom of escape. And yet, she is still a product of his mind and inner, almost subconscious sphere. Contrast evokes, the one of spirituality in the glimpse of Madonna and carnality in the glimpse of the girl's breasts; the contrast between fresh nature and old ruins - fresh air among the old heyday. He blends the carnal and the spiritual, the joys and suffering. In one of the most memorable scenes (with the superior camera-work when the boy remains within his own frame), he talks to his mother who sits like a harlot...later, he talks to Bruna, the Eve-like creature from the Garden of Eden. The much appreciated tango scene is a climax of the Oepidus complex. Mind you that in his final agony, which echoes another Neorealist masterpiece, PAISA, but, foremost, Andrea Mantegna's painting, Ettore addresses his mother, conclusively the one he has loved most. Solely in that relation, we can embrace Bosley Crowther's words that "the story imprisons its characters in a world of temptation."
When Ettore dies, he resembles Christ by the echoing power of Mantegna's masterful painting. Here, the boy of one name becomes the implicit protagonist of the movie. Our attention is surely drawn to him. But also, something dies in Mamma Roma in her Pieta-like agony because she is his momma and he is her whole world. Strange and uncommon as this pious reference may seem, Pasolini makes this conclusion a universal appeal of feelings that more powerfully than radiantly speak of their universal religiosity and spirituality, but, above all, humanity.
his first kiss
his first love
his first friend
You are his momma
And he is your whole world"
I have selected this mother-son verse for my review because it seems to accurately correspond to this movie's core idea. As one of the first features by Italy's controversial yet versatile talent, Pier Paolo Pasolini, MAMMA ROMA is a movie which remains strongly in the memory of the viewer due to, as a New York Times reviewer Bosley Crowther pointed out, its "bottomless well of emotions," its sensuality and "dark iconoclasm." Nothing is black and white, everything is highly complex, more to say: CONTRADICTORY. Having so many ideas blended, mixed, out of place, the film is an altogether shocking experience. While Pasolini's other films may occur too bizarre and "feverish" (Crowther) for some viewers, this one is actually a striking combination of the director's perversion and genius.
As much as MAMMA ROMA may be considered a descendant of Italian Neorealism being an almost 'successor' or 'sequence' to Rossellini's ROMA CITTA APERTA (additionally, the presence of Lamberto Maggiorani echoes DeSica's masterpiece BICYCLE THIEVES uttering his only word in the movie - "al ladro"), it is an unpredictable, surprising mixture of the classic and the modern, the Greek 'cosmos' vs. 'chaos' and a board for Renaissance painting, baroque music, classical literature, mystical Catholicism and Freudian psychoanalysis. Something that perhaps only Pasolini was able to do without the finale of 'scandalous rage' and oblivion.' In the title itself, the city of Rome (the locale of the story), different from its ancient power and arrogance, from its medieval capital of pilgrim destination, from its 1945 crisis, the Rome of 1962 is, satirically, personified by a prostitute (almost on the verge of blasphemy with an association with Salus Populi Romani - Madonna in Santa Maria Maggiore called by some 'Mamma di Roma'). But she is not Fellini's Cabiria (though there are certain parallels, particularly in the desire of change), but far more: a mother, title Mamma Roma played brilliantly by Anna Magnani.
Although much could be said about this blended aspect of literary/artistic/musical/religious sources (all of which Pasolini himself personified) - the aspect that is nicely developed by Jim's FilmWebsite (where he discusses Vivaldi concerto in the scenes of emotional tension along with Leonardo da Vinci frescoes of "madly inappropriate Biblical references" - referring to Crowther's words), for that reason, another review would be necessary. In the context of art, the director of photography, Tonino Delli Colli deserves full credit making some scenes look almost magically meaningful. But, as this requires more in depth analysis, let me focus more on this title character or more, two characters that make the whole film an emotional and psychological feast. They foremost make the film worth seeing.
ANNA MAGNANI: All tensions somehow meet their realization in the immensely meaningful yet complex persona of Mamma Roma. When she sings, she sings with joy, when she plays, she plays with passion, when she looks at us, her eyes tell everything. Although there were many roles in her life, this is actually the most appealing one. Initially not very enthusiastic about the role, the vibrant contrast and absorbing vitality results. I would agree with Jim's article that her performance is "earthy and passionate (...) simultaneously hilarious and tragic, realistic and stylized." Apart from the "enormous bags under her eyes," she plunges herself into the story as hardly anyone else as a mother and a prostitute. Who can forget her brilliant confessions to all people around in the nocturnal streets of Rome or her final tragedy. But we cannot analyze her alone. She is fully realized along with her son, Ettore, a boy bitten by the lizard of his mother's past and the lizard of money and destructive greed.
ETTORE GAROFOLO embodies wandering youth, wandering puberty being constantly in search of something. With his fellows, he is like one of the Apostles from IL VANGELO SECONDO MATTEO; alone, he is Pasolini's world in itself. Inspired by Caravaggio's "Boy Bitten By a Lizard" he is both pure manifestation of Pasolini's view of a young man along with his immensely appraised maturing sexuality as well as a product of psychoanalytical aspects. In him, the struggle is the stimulus and response, the source and the goal, the mother as a haunting love, a haunting desire and a girl, Bruna, as freedom of escape. And yet, she is still a product of his mind and inner, almost subconscious sphere. Contrast evokes, the one of spirituality in the glimpse of Madonna and carnality in the glimpse of the girl's breasts; the contrast between fresh nature and old ruins - fresh air among the old heyday. He blends the carnal and the spiritual, the joys and suffering. In one of the most memorable scenes (with the superior camera-work when the boy remains within his own frame), he talks to his mother who sits like a harlot...later, he talks to Bruna, the Eve-like creature from the Garden of Eden. The much appreciated tango scene is a climax of the Oepidus complex. Mind you that in his final agony, which echoes another Neorealist masterpiece, PAISA, but, foremost, Andrea Mantegna's painting, Ettore addresses his mother, conclusively the one he has loved most. Solely in that relation, we can embrace Bosley Crowther's words that "the story imprisons its characters in a world of temptation."
When Ettore dies, he resembles Christ by the echoing power of Mantegna's masterful painting. Here, the boy of one name becomes the implicit protagonist of the movie. Our attention is surely drawn to him. But also, something dies in Mamma Roma in her Pieta-like agony because she is his momma and he is her whole world. Strange and uncommon as this pious reference may seem, Pasolini makes this conclusion a universal appeal of feelings that more powerfully than radiantly speak of their universal religiosity and spirituality, but, above all, humanity.