Mamma Roma

Mamma Roma is a 1962 film directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. An ex-prostitute, Mamma Roma (Anna Magnani), tries to start a new life selling vegetables with her 16 year old son Ettore (Ettore Garofolo). When he later finds out she was a prostitute he succumbs to the dark side with the petty theft of a radio in a hospital and goes to prison. The lingering shots of Ettore, strapped to a prison bed in his underwear are seductive and haunting, as are sh... more

Mamma Roma is a 1962 film directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. An ex-prostitute, Mamma Roma (Anna Magnani), tries to start a new life selling vegetables with her 16 year old son Ettore (Ettore Garofolo). When he later finds out she was a prostitute he succumbs to the dark side with the petty theft of a radio in a hospital and goes to prison. The lingering shots of Ettore, strapped to a prison bed in his underwear are seductive and haunting, as are shots of Mamma Roma walking at night, joined by different men in conversation, one after another in one continuous shot. Pier Paolo Pasolini said that he wasn't able to rebirth Anna Magnani as she was in Roma, città aperta because as an actor, she chose to maintain her independence from his artistic visions. "If I had to shoot the film over, I would have still chosen her", said Pasolini later. The film was dedicated to the director of Roma, città aperta (1945), Roberto Rossellini. Anna Magnani plays a pregnant woman who gets killed in the middle... less