Mamma Roma (1995)

Paolo Pasolini's (Accatone, Salo) neorealist masterpiece stars the great Anna Magnani (Open City) as a middle-aged whore who saves money to buy an apartment, a fruit stand and retire from working the streets of rome. She soon brings her beloved teenage son Ettore from the country to live with her; but Ettore quickly succumbs to the corrupting influence of the city, falling in with local gangs and developing a fatal crush on a disreputable girl. Wanting to make Ettore an honest man while rebuilding her own life, Mamma Roma's greatest challenge is her past, which inevitably comes back to haunt her. Declared obscene when it premiŠred at the 1962 Venice international film festival, Mamma Roma was heavily censored on release, and now comes to DVD as Pasolini intended. In the neorealist tradition of LUCHINO VISCONTI and Vittorio De Sica, this tough, streetwise film explores the lives of the poor and marginalised in the mean streets of post-war Rome, and launched Pasolini's infamous film career. Album Description

Incredible camera movement and realism

I love this movie not entirely for the storyline, but more so for the camera movement which creates a great sense of realism to the film. I have noticed many similarities in Pasolini's style in Martin Scorsese's work. The scene in Goodfellas where the couple walks into the Copa Cabana through the back entrance is a derivative of the scene in the city with all the street lights. I don't know too much about directing but I do know when a good director has worked on a film. I recommend this movie to those interested in the art of italian realism cinema. December 15, 1998

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