Porcupicks: Mamma Roma

Mamma Roma begins with pigs and a wide shot reminiscent of The Last Supper. It ends emulating the Crucifixion. Director Pier Paolo Pasolini frequently has something to say about religion, but as with nearly everything Pasolini, even this is wide ranging and contradictory. The man who made Salò, or the 120
Days of Sodom, (a two and a half hour torture-fest that Roger Ebert, by his own admission, owned,
but was too afraid to watch) also made The Gospel According to St. Matthew, in which he used the Bible as his screenplay and created the most sincere and beautiful Jesus film I have ever seen (despite his personal atheism).

Mamma Roma is about titular woman (Anna Magnani) who moves up extreme poverty and prostitution to run a food stall and bring her provicincial son, Ettore (Ettore Garofolo) to Rome. Mamma Roma loves Ettore deeply and the two share many endearing moments, but she is dragged twice back into prostitution by her former pimp and he is eaten alive by the harsh realities of the city and his own naivete.

Both times Mamma Roma is forced back into the prostititution, we follow her for what must be a mile literally
walking the street in a single tracking shot. As she walks, she talks about her plight, her past, fascism, and more, as myriad men walk alongside her and then fade away into the darkness. She doesn’t break from her story as they come and go; she keeps pressing on.

Magnani is the heart of the film. She is vivacious, compelling, and larger than life. It cannot be overstated how big and alive her performance is. The film fits firmly into the Italian neorealism movement and, with apologies to Bicycle Thieves, is as good or better than any film in that category.