Mamma Roma
Mamma Roma • 1h 47m
Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini • 1962 • Italy
Starring Anna Magnani, Ettore Garofolo, Franco Citti
Anna Magnani is Mamma Roma, a middle-aged prostitute who attempts to extricate herself from her sordid past for the sake of her son. Highlighting director Pier Paolo Pasolini’s lifelong fascination with the marginalized and dispossessed, MAMMA ROMA offers an unflinching, neorealistic look at the struggle for survival in postwar Italy. Though initially banned in the country for obscenity, today the film remains a classic, featuring a powerhouse performance by one of cinema’s greatest actors and offering a glimpse at Pasolini in the process of finding his style.
Up Next in Mamma Roma
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Bernardo Bertolucci on MAMMA ROMA
Filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci began as a production assistant to Pier Paolo Pasolini on Pasolini’s first film, ACCATTONE (1961). This interview with Bertolucci was conducted in 2004.
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Tonino Delli Colli on MAMMA ROMA
Tonino Delli Colli worked as director of photography on eleven of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s fourteen films, beginning with ACCATTONE and concluding with the director’s final film, SALO (1975). This interview with him was recorded in 2004.
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Enzo Siciliano on MAMMA ROMA
This interview with Enzo Siciliano, author of “Pasolini” (1982), was conducted in 2004.
