Fellini's Roma (1972)

Hard to appreciate

Roma is a film about Rome by one of the most revered film directors who ever lived - Fellini. As a piece of simple cinema entertainment this has little to offer; there is no plot and no characterisation, which makes it tough going if you are used to traditional Hollywood films. To have some understanding of the history of Rome will certainly help, but even then you may find this difficult to take. Where the film succeeds is Fellini's amazing direction and stunning use of images and colours. If you approach this film like you would a brilliant painting then it begins to make sense. However two hours is a long time to stare at a brilliant painting!

My initial reaction is perhaps a little negative compared with previous reviewers, however, I suspect that this is a film that will improve with repeated viewings. Nevertheless if you mainly watch mainstream movies I'd advise caution before buying - rent it or watch it on TV first.
December 16, 2007

Fellini's scenic trip through Rome......

For those of you unfamiliar with the works of the late, great Italian director, Federico Fellini, ROMA is one of those films that gives you a small view of the pacing and style of his filmmaking. It is at once gaudy, bawdy, scenic, lovely and horrifying. Sometimes these feelings are simultaneous and other times they are sequential. For me, Roma felt like a series of animated postcards, taking a glimpse at "contemporary" Rome (the Rome of the 1970s, when this film was shot) in contrast with the Rome of decades before (the age of El Deuce and the height of Fascist rule). We see boisterous scenes from street life, a "typical" evening in an outdoor restaurant, shots comparing the "free love" attitude of the late 1960s and early 1970s with brothels of the 1930s, and just incidental shots of a colorful array of characters interacting with each other. Some of the venues include a burlesque theater, movie house and even a cathedral, where the cardinal pays a visit and stays for a one-of-a-kind fashion show, featuring the latest styles for priests and nuns (you just have to see the habits for yourself, to believe that they exist on film. I am thinking Flying Nun meets Flying Squirrel.).

I was really intrigued by Fellini's use of spontaneity, incidental connectedness with his subjects, and backhanded humor. For me, the narration at the beginning made the film feel like we were watching it from the unseen "third person" that often tells a story from the perspective of a fly on the wall. Our narrator makes a brief on screen appearance, but, otherwise, his narration his minimal throughout the course of the story. That really opens up the atmosphere of the film and allows us to really have our own experience with the visceral animated portrait we are presented with. It ends as suddenly as it starts, and you feel as though you have just went on the strangest journey to the "eternal city," except you aren't sure what kind of acid trip you went on to get there! But, however strong the drug concoction, it is ultimately a beautiful and interchangeably odd ride. June 24, 2007

Fellini in his prime.

What can I say? It's Fellini doing what he does best. As with other european movies, it's the antithesis of a Hollywood movie, which is to say that it's thought provoking and demanding of the viewer. May 13, 2007

Bravo, Maestro!,

Beautiful and colorful Fellini's Roma (1972) is a very enjoyable film with a subtle message and a lot of heart. The magnificent Eternal City, one of the most famous cities in the world is deservingly the main character of this very personal for its creator, Maestro Fellini, film that can be described as a montage of unrelated scenes.

"Roma" consists of three parts. In the beginning, young Federico, the student in his native Rimini, learns about Rome from movies, plays, works of art, and from school history lessons. Then, as a young man, he arrives to Eternal City, strange, loud, and confusing on the outbreak of World War II. The third part takes us to the beginning of 70th when Fellini, the famous master is creating a visually unforgettable, full of life and history portrait of Rome consisting of several vignettes that take us back and forth in time and director's memory.

I think the reason I enjoyed "Roma" is that its vignettes have so much heart and love, irony , and interest to the master's favorite city, its past and present, to its streets, palaces, and cathedrals, and to its people, their laughs, smiles, and tears. Some of the stories are amusing (variety show, first Federico's dinner in one of the outside restaurants where everybody knows everybody) while some are very emotional.

A powerful scene takes place in an underground tunnel where subway construction workers discovered an ancient palace filled with beautiful frescoes of Ancint Rome period that later slowly fade out and disappear before our eyes taking with them a mystery of times long gone.

I loved the fashion show of nuns and priests; I liked the sequence with the prostitutes on display - both are typical Fellini's surreal scenes, funny and sad in the same time.

"Roma" is one of the best documentary style movies that I have seen. The main character in all its stories is Rome and that's the only character we need here.

Gracie Federico!

4.5/5

April 6, 2007

At the Top

Fellinis's Roma is the director's fanciful excursion into auto-biographical self-indulgence on a magical higher level. Filmed after his psychedelic "Satyricon", Fellini extends his series of dream-inspired visual classics. Make no mistake, at age 50, Fellini still had it. "Fellini Roma" is a plotless, visceral delight. It is perfect. From scenes of the Rome subway to Musolini's Fascist dynasty, "Fellinis Roma" encompases scenes from the director's life in 1931 up until the hippie onslaught around 1972. It doesn't make sense. It isn't supposed to. It's great art. It's eye candy. I'm going to put on the DVD again. August 25, 2006

More reviews at Amazon.com ...