Mamma Roma is the first film I've seen from controversial Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini and it will probably be the last for quite a while. This film is very much in the Italian Neo-Realist tradition, something I found odd since most films from the movement were made several years earlier. As I watched the film, which was filled with unsympathetic low-life characters, I kept wondering what the point of it was or rather why Pasolini made it. I don't think that every film should necessarily be a work of art or a work of entertainment; in fact I think there are all sorts of different reasons a film can exist. I just couldn't think of a good one for this film.
I can most definitely say that I didn't find this film to be at all entertaining or artistic. Actually, the only reason for this film I can think of is as a venue for Pasolini to spread his political message; his contempt for the bourgeois is quite obvious here. The film seems to be all about how society works against the lower class to keep them down. I don't necessarily object to a film having a political message but it needs something more to justify its existence. The only other thing I could find was some very cynical and depressing melodrama. There is also heavy handed religious imagery and parallelism between Mamma Roma's son and Christ but I fail to see how it adds anything to the film. For that matter, some of the content of the film itself seems to be working against what I took to be its political message.
On a technical level, I was mostly unimpressed with Mamma Roma. The acting ranged from poor to above average and a lot of the cinematography looked very nice. At the same time, however, the editing was often quite abrupt and the film often felt disjointed as crucial plot points were mentioned instead of shown while less important events often were covered more thoroughly. Finally, I feel that I have to mention the distracting score which alternated between overbearing and not appropriate to the action.
I can most definitely say that I didn't find this film to be at all entertaining or artistic. Actually, the only reason for this film I can think of is as a venue for Pasolini to spread his political message; his contempt for the bourgeois is quite obvious here. The film seems to be all about how society works against the lower class to keep them down. I don't necessarily object to a film having a political message but it needs something more to justify its existence. The only other thing I could find was some very cynical and depressing melodrama. There is also heavy handed religious imagery and parallelism between Mamma Roma's son and Christ but I fail to see how it adds anything to the film. For that matter, some of the content of the film itself seems to be working against what I took to be its political message.
On a technical level, I was mostly unimpressed with Mamma Roma. The acting ranged from poor to above average and a lot of the cinematography looked very nice. At the same time, however, the editing was often quite abrupt and the film often felt disjointed as crucial plot points were mentioned instead of shown while less important events often were covered more thoroughly. Finally, I feel that I have to mention the distracting score which alternated between overbearing and not appropriate to the action.