Omamamia (2012)

Marguerita wants to go to Rome and see the Pope. She succeeds - but with countless adventures along the way, including a charming con man, a rocker bartender granddaughter, a perpetually worrying daughter and, of course, the Pope.

Director:

Tomy Wigand

Writers:

Jane Ainscough (screenplay), Gabriela Sperl (screenplay)

Stars:

Marianne Sägebrecht, Annette Frier, Miriam Stein

Cast

Credited cast:
Marianne Sägebrecht	...	Oma Marguerita
Annette Frier	...	Marie
Miriam Stein	...	Martina
Giancarlo Giannini	...	Lorenzo
Raz Degan	...	Silvio
Giovanni Esposito	...	Dino
Paul Barrett	...	Joe
Thomas Kylau	...	Papst Benedict III
Felix Hellmann	...	Reinhold
Nadine Arents	...	Chantal
Jonas Holdenrieder	...	Kind Vincent
Marvin Drinhausen	...	Kind Marco
Jaymes Butler	...	Priester im Audienzbüro
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Helmut Markwort	...	Kardinal
Tim Seyfi	...	Dino (voice)

Storyline

Sixty-five-year old Oma is a widow. Her over-caring daughter Marie has just sold Oma's house and is about to relocate her to the all-perfect "Sunshine Home". Oma is horrified and finally decides to live out her dream of getting the blessing from the Bavarian Pope. She hops onto a flight to Rome and knocks on the door of Martina, her granddaughter who works as a nanny to a strict Catholic family. Or so everyone thought. Oma quickly faces many surprises: Martina lives with her boyfriend Silvio, a tattoo artist and rocker; her priest's letter granting access to a blessing won't work; a German restaurant serves food no one should ever call German; and, a blind man she helps, Lorenzo, isn't actually blind. Feeling disoriented, Oma begins a journey that will make her dreams, expected and unexpected, come true.

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Plot Keywords:

pope | catholic | pepper spray | blind man | restaurant | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

Germany

Language:

German English Italian

Release Date:

1 November 2012 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Oma in Roma

Filming Locations:

Rome, Lazio, Italy

Box Office

Budget:

€5,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sperl Productions,Arden Film,Seven Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

User Reviews

Feelgood fluff, but charming and funny

There's a Catholic Family, with a widowed grandmother (Oma), her rather uptight daughter Marie who has her own family; a husband, two young boys and an older daughter Martina who's living in Rome. Oma travels solo to Rome to get the pope's blessing for something and finds her granddaughter living with a rocker and working behind a bar in a rather rough café rather than with a nice Catholic family as an au pair (as her mother thinks). (I won't bore you with the synopsis, as you can read that elsewhere).

The main ingredients are a few chance encounters and the obvious culture shocks (which may now and then seem a bit contrived) but it's mainly about human kindness and people trying to get along with each other in varying degrees of success. The over protective Marie is (obviously, again) proved wrong. Oma and her granddaughter are way more laid back and get along just fine. There's also a nice performance by Giancarlo Giannini who plays a lovable rogue named Lorenzo.

Yes, it's feelgood fluff, but it often made me smile and even laugh out loud a few times. If you are looking for high brow cinema this isn't it. If you are looking for some good-natured escapism this might just do the trick.