Ammazza, Signora Roma, che voce che ci avete!
—Market vendor to his vociferous neighbor
Ammazza che stupenda é la Magnani! She’s fascinating to watch, and Mamma Roma, Pasolini’s iconic film about a desperate, overbearing mother, is built for her. The rest of the cast is great too—her sulky teenage son Ettore, sleazy pimp Carmine, young neighborhood tramp Bruna, Ettore’s gang—but in that awkward, neorealist, “I can’t act but I’m trying” way. La Magnani is an operatic diva, stealing every scene she’s in. Tear your eyes away from all the beautiful faces a mo’ to behold the Roman landscape, ancient aqueduct competing with modern high-rise apartments, all seemingly in the middle of nowhere. But beware Pasolini’s heavy-handed, eye-roll inducing religious imagery that puts the ending over the top.
La ricotta is a tasty little bite of Pasolini, the thick religious imagery now tempered with irreverent and self-deprecating humor. It’s a thirty-minute film, originally released as a segment of RoGoPaG (1963), that earned him a date in court on charges of blasphemy. The Catholic ruling class of the day was not impressed, apparently, but I loved it! Orson Welles plays a radical Catholic Communist director (ehm) filming the Passion of Christ on the outskirts of Rome. A poor local man, who has landed work on the production as an extra, goes to great lengths to feed himself after sacrificing his catered lunch for his family, and ends up making the ultimate sacrifice. Marvel at the dandies doin’ the twist in between takes (a goofy six-tays kind of wonderful), and the slapstick fast-motion bum-scratching! And Ettore, the striking son of Mamma Roma, makes an appearance—I think he’s the one who drops Christ during the pietà. Hilarity ensues! Who knew?
****
- More Pasolini: Accattone
- More Magnani: her Tennessee Williams films, Nella città l’inferno (stint in jail opposite Giulietta Masina—!!), Rossellini’s L’amore, and Visconti’s Bellissima. And I would watch both Roma and Roma, città aperta again anytime!