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Mamma Roma

Play trailer Poster for Mamma Roma Released Aug 31, 1962 1h 50m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
95% Tomatometer 20 Reviews 90% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
After years spent working as a prostitute in her Italian village, middle-aged Mamma Roma (Anna Magnani) has saved enough money to buy herself a fruit stand so that she can have a respectable middle-class life and reestablish contact with the 16-year-old son (Ettore Garofalo) she abandoned when he was an infant. But her former pimp (Franco Citti) threatens to expose her sordid past, and her troubled son seems destined to fall into a life of crime and violence.

Critics Reviews

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Peter John Dyer Sight & Sound In its rhetorical way the film is a good deal more powerful and assured than Accattone. Mar 11, 2020 Full Review Bill Weber Slant Magazine Pasolini's second film showcases Anna Magnani with a minimum of sentimentality in a bleak, pitiless Eternal City of the early '60s. Rated: 3.5/4 Jan 19, 2011 Full Review David Fear Time Out A key transitional work for the cinematic subversive, a seriously damning portrait of maternal martyrdom and, in a killer final shot, upward mobility. Rated: 4/5 Jan 19, 2011 Full Review Sean Burns WBUR’s Arts & Culture The film’s final segment goes full Passion Play, including a faux crucifixion in which Magnani’s character serves as both Magdalene and Mary. Madone! May 22, 2025 Full Review Justine Smith Vague Visages Pasolini suggests in Mamma Roma that the spiritual beauty of humanity often emerges from vulgarity and contradiction. Nov 21, 2023 Full Review Scott Nye Battleship Pretension Pasolini frequently uses those who push themselves to the margins of society to expose our collective and individual weaknesses, and our determination to maintain the image of order. Jun 29, 2023 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Marco z A wonderful film directed by Pasolini. It beautifully depicts Italy in those years, offering a genuine glimpse into the past. Probably the easiest Pasolini film I have seen so far, it is very understandable and enjoyable. Excellent storytelling, it truly conveys the love and despair of a mother who would do anything for her son, but who cannot escape her origins. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 09/08/25 Full Review Stephen C Success in 1 hour and 50 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In Italian and American English audio options with American English subtitles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 07/24/25 Full Review Wudi H So trostlos wie die Architektur war auch das Leben in den italienischen Vorstädten. Musste weinen. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 11/03/24 Full Review Audience Member Very well made, and interesting political and cultural messages being displayed by Pasolini throughout the film and his artistic vision is clearly noted, with some fantastic imagery. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/14/23 Full Review Audience Member Il secondo film di Pasolini è un ritratto della periferia romana dei primi anni '60, al contempo un'opera universale: il complicato rapporto madre-figlio; l'amore di lei, talmente sconfinato da travalicare i limiti del giusto e finire per inghiottire il figlio in una morsa disperata che lo porta ad allontanarsi da lei. Ettore, unica ragione di vita di Mamma Roma, per il quale smette di prostituirsi e inizia a fare un lavoro "moralmente onesto" (secondo l'opinione dei romani), in una condizione di povertà che lei odia e da cui prova a liberarsi, in una scalata sociale da proletariato a borghesia. Mi ha colpito il suo anticomunismo, frutto di un background culturale cattolico e conservatore. Ettore: "Non ci voglio stare con quei figlî di papà che solo perché hanno un po' di grano si sentono qualcuno." Mamma Roma: "Ma che sei comunista te? Non ti ci voglio a fa' il compagno con quei morti di fame a zappà la terra." La prima scena è del matrimonio del pappone di Mamma Roma, in cui un uomo elogia la fondamentale importanza degli agricoltori e dei contadini, senza i quali nemmeno i borghesi potrebbero godere dei proprî privilegî. La stessa Mamma Roma lo canzona. Ettore, per volontà della madre, passa dai contadini alla "brava gente", e si percepisce la pesantezza della differenza di vestiario, in una società ancorata alle impressioni esteriori quale l'Italia del boom economico. Infatti se nella vita in campagna Mamma Roma malediceva lo sterrato per via dei suoi tacchî, ma i Ettore frequentava ragazzi che lavoravano la terra, nel quartiere borghese il nuovo gruppetto del figlio lo coinvolge nei furti, è un gruppo violento, che vuole stuprare le ragazze, ed Ettore finisce per morire dopo una detenzione inumana in seguito a un furto. La speranza classista di Mamma Roma della redenzione borghese si rivela solo un'illusione. Comprensibilmente nessuno è consapevole che la povertà da cui si scappa è causata proprio dai borghesi, da quelli ricchi, da quelli che sono ricchi per aver sfruttato la forza lavoro di altre persone tenendo per sé i guadagni senza restituirli, condannando i lavoratori a soffrire. Mi ha messo molto a disagio questo film, crudo e deprimente come la realtà della fetta meno "chic", meno "in" dell'Italia di una volta, simile a quella odierna. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/20/23 Full Review s r Italian, sad and not much for redemption. I don't want to see it again. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Mamma Roma

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Movie Info

Synopsis After years spent working as a prostitute in her Italian village, middle-aged Mamma Roma (Anna Magnani) has saved enough money to buy herself a fruit stand so that she can have a respectable middle-class life and reestablish contact with the 16-year-old son (Ettore Garofalo) she abandoned when he was an infant. But her former pimp (Franco Citti) threatens to expose her sordid past, and her troubled son seems destined to fall into a life of crime and violence.
Director
Pier Paolo Pasolini
Producer
Alfredo Bini
Screenwriter
Pier Paolo Pasolini
Distributor
Milestone Film & Video, Criterion Collection
Production Co
Arco Film S.r.L.
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Italian
Release Date (Theaters)
Aug 31, 1962, Original
Rerelease Date (Theaters)
Jan 18, 1995
Release Date (DVD)
Jun 22, 2004
Runtime
1h 50m
Sound Mix
Stereo