A few days ago I saw ‘1917‘, the film that has a good chance of picking up several Academy Awards in a few weeks. The glory of this film is due to the fact that its director, Sam Mendes, uses the single shot technique to give the feeling of continuity. Of course, we are in 2019 and Mendes‘ single shot is not made in one piece but enjoys a little CGI assistance. It happens that last night I watched at the local cinematheque theater Pier Paolo Pasolini‘s ‘Mamma Roma‘ from 1962. Well, in this film, we are dealing with two monologue scenes with the lead character, lasting for many minutes each, shot using exactly the same technique for scenes that take place in the middle of the night on Rome’s ill-famed streets after World War II. The effect is spectacular and it is certain that Pasolini did not enjoy the help of any computer. These scenes represent only a fraction of the original and expressive cinematographic elements that can be found in this second film written and directed by Pasolini.
There are other scenes and ideas worth watching in ‘Mamma Roma‘. The film begins and ends with two scenes that are inspired by two of the most famous masterpieces of Renaissance religious art – Leonardo Da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper’ and Andrea Mantegna’s ‘Dead Christ’. The film is also sprinkled with other religious references and quotes, which does not prevent him from having a profound social message, reflecting Pasolini‘s political and intellectual identity which at that time he defined himself as of a ‘Marxist Catholic’. The subject – the story of a prostitute 50 years old who tries to retire from the street job, to rehabilitate herself socially, but first of all to redeem herself morally by saving her adolescent son, neglected until then, from a life of poverty and crime – , and the presence of a strong female character played by one of the great actresses of the Italian post-war film, can place the film in the category of late neo-realism. Technically, however, the shooting style and sound capture demonstrate at many times that Pasolini was looking across the border to France, where the New Wave was approaching its peak.
What remains of this film beyond the documentary and historical value? First, of course, Anna Magnani‘s magnificent acting – an anthology role. Ettore Garofolo is her partner as her teenage son – a great promise that he did not materialize his acting career as this start was enabling. The story may seem melodramatic, a bit linear and too predictable, but the way it is told, the sequences shown on screen and what is left out, have at many times an unexpectedly modern feel. The sound and the image carry the weight of time despite all the reconditioning, but the music has elements that work surprisingly well. ‘Mamma Roma‘ is less mentioned in the articles about Pasolini‘s biography and career, perhaps because it was followed by more shocking works, but I believe that the film has its well deserved place of interest for today’s viewers.