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A born-cult: “Mamma Roma”, banned upon its release

Posted Jun 1, 2011

1962: one of the most talented Italian intellectuals meets one of the Divas of the Italian Cinema. As in all the best love stories, there’s a fight. The result of this war between Pier Paolo Pasolini and Anna Magnani, is Mamma Roma, an unforgettable experience, considered a cult. Any more reasons needed? Four more to come.

“If I had to shoot the film over, I would have still chosen her". Pasolini, remembering the challenge of directing Anna Magnani, epitomizes part of the soul of his cult movie, Mamma Roma.  There are, at least, five reasons to claim cult status, not to mention the arrest of the director at the Venice Film Festival premiere in 1962.


>> Anna Magnani as "Mamma Roma"

 

1. One of the finest performances by one of the greatest actresses starts with the admission of a failure of the director: “I wasn’t able to rebirth her”.

2. “Mamma Roma” offers a unique glimpse in Pasolini’s process of finding a personal style brilliantly integrating themes and techniques.

3. The fatalistic temperament of the director emerges in the hopelessness of the whole story - “the only thing that makes man really great is the fact that he will die”.

 


>> Mamma Roma and her 16 yars old son Ettore

 

4. Local dialects, slang and street language (as Pasolini used to do also as writer) merge together giving the film exceptional linguistic authenticity and poetical power.

 


>> The brutal transition between the countryside and the city.

 

 5. With this movie, his second directorial, Pasolini began to set out his powerful critique of the bourgeoisie, which in the future will be one of the most important milestones of his brilliant intellectual thinking.

Giuliano Federico
(Editor in chief Swide.com)

 

TAGS: pier paolo pasolini anna magnani mamma roma movie movies italian movie

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