Mamma Roma (1962)

Director:

Pier Paolo Pasolini

Guionista:

Pier Paolo Pasolini (writer)

Release Date:

18 enero 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Mamma Roma is a middle-aged whore of Roma. Now she can quit her job to become a fruit seller. And she can take back her 16-year-old son...

Plot Keywords:

Rome Italy | Prostitute | Female Underarm Hair | Hospital | Dead Boy

Awards:

1 nomination

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Absolutely amazing

Cast

Anna Magnani	...	Mamma Roma
Ettore Garofolo	...	Ettore
Franco Citti	...	Carmine
Silvana Corsini	...	Bruna
Luisa Loiano	...	Biancofiore
Paolo Volponi	...	Il Prete (Priest)
Luciano Gonini	...	Zacaria
Vittorio La Paglia	...	Il sig. Pellissier
Piero Morgia	...	Piero
Lanfranco Ceccarelli	...	Carletto (as Franco Ceccarelli)
Marcello Sorrentino	...	Tonino
Sandro Meschino	...	Pasquale
Franco Tovo	...	Augusto
Pasquale Ferrarese	...	Lino
Leandro Santarelli	...	Begalo
Emanuele Di Bari	...	Gennarino il trovatore
Antonio Spoletini	...	Un pompieretto
Nino Bionci	...	Un pittoretto
Nino Venzi	...	Un cliente (A client)
Maria Bernardini	...	La sposa (The Bride)
Santino Citti	...	Padre della sposa (Bride's father)
Renato Montalbano	...	Un infermiere (Nurse)
Lamberto Maggiorani	...	Un malato (Sick man)
listado alfabético del resto del reparto:
Renato Capogna	...	Pimp (uncredited)
Pietro Ceccarelli	...	Man (uncredited)
Mario Cipriani	...	Thug (uncredited)
Renato Troiani	...	Pimp (uncredited)

Dirigida por
Pier Paolo Pasolini

Créditos del guión (in alphabetical order)
Pier Paolo Pasolini		writer

Producida por
Alfredo Bini	....	producer

Fotografía por
Tonino Delli Colli

Montaje por
Nino Baragli

Dirección artística
Flavio Mogherini

Decorados
Massimo Tavazzi

Departamento de maquillaje
Marcello Ceccarelli	....	makeup artist
Amalia Paoletti	....	hair stylist

Dirección de producción
Eliseo Boschi	....	production manager
Fernando Franchi	....	production supervisor

Ayudante de dirección
Carlo Di Carlo	....	assistant director

Departamento de sonido
Renato Cadueri	....	sound mixer
Leopoldo Rosi	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Franco Delli Colli	....	camera operator
Gioacchino Sofia	....	assistant camera
Angelo Novi	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Andreina Casini	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Bruno Cherubini	....	composer: song "Violino tzigano" (as Cherubini)
Carlo Rustichelli	....	music arranger

Otros miembros del equipo
Franco Casati	....	production secretary
Sergio Citti	....	additional dialogue
Lina D'Amico	....	script girl
Giulio De Stephanis	....	cashier
Bruno Frascà	....	production secretary
Mirella Gamacchio	....	script girl (as Mirella Comacchio)
Vincenzo Taito	....	administration inspector

Production Companies

• Arco Film

Distributors

• Connoisseur Video
• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Homescreen (2004) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (2006) (Germany) (DVD)
• Meridian Video (1995) (USA) (subtitled)
• Versátil Home Vídeo (2004) (Brazil) (DVD)

También conocida como:

Mamma Roma (Argentina) [es]

Duración:

106 min | USA:110 min | Argentina:110 min | UK:95 min (original version)

País:

Italy

Idioma:

Italian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sonido:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Clasificación:

Spain:7 | Italy:VM14 (cinema release) (1962) | Argentina:16 | UK:15 (video rating) (1997) | UK:X (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Arco Film

Goofs:

Continuity: When Mamma Roma takes off the veil from the bride and puts it on herself, the bride is shown still wearing the veil.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Wie de Waarheid Zegt Moet Dood (1981)

Soundtrack:

Una vez me dormí

Absolutely amazing

Mamma Roma could be Pasolini's best film. Well, perhaps I shouldn't judge that right now. I have seen two others, Salo, which I quite like despite its being the vilest film ever made, and The Gospel According to Matthew, generally considered his best film. I love that one, as well. But, as much as I loved those two films, they didn't envelope me like Mamma Roma did.

Anna Magnani plays the titular character, an aging, plump, and earthy whore. Her pimp has retired and let her go, so Mamma Ro' runs off to the country to gather up her teenage son. The backstory of the son is left obscure. Apparently Mamma Ro' left him with some relatives or something like that. Her son, Ettore, is excited to move to Rome, but he is not sure whether he trusts his mother. She has abandoned him for most of his life presumably (one of the great gifts that Pasolini has in this film is that he never spells anything out, but just suggests and implies a lot).

The film shifts between Mamma Ro' and Ettore. Ro' is running a respectable fruit stand, although she likes to hang around all of her friends who are still prostitutes and pimps. Probably the most memorable shot of the film occurs when Ro' walks down the streets of rural Rome at night. The camera moves backwards on a dolly, and Ro' is constantly walking towards it. Her friends approach her, talk with her and walk with her a while, only to drop back. A few seconds later, a new companion will walk up next to Ro' and walk beside her, talk with her. There are actually two scenes with this shockingly beautiful technique, used at strategic points of the film. Mamma Roma cares about her son more than anything. She is a good mother, or at least she is overly determined to be one.

Ettore, on the other hand, lives a life of boredom. School does not interest him, nor does work. He would rather hang around with all the local hoodlums and the local tramp who lives down the street. He wanders around amongst the ruins of ancient Roman city walls. The landscape is simply beautiful, but in a very desolate manner. As the film progresses, Ettore grows more and more delinquent.

The themes of mother and son are universal. Of making amends and of growing up. This film captures the feel of human existence as almost no other film does. Pasolini is a genius, he has his fingers right on the pulse of human rhythm. I think that he captures what the neorealist directors were always after. They always got bogged down in melodrama, although I do love a ton of them. Mamma Roma is the kind of film that makes me happy to be alive. It's not exactly a happy film, but it is wonderfully life affirming. When Mamma Ro' rode proudly down the street on the back of her son's motorbike, it left a mark on me never to be erased.