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Mamma Roma (Anna Magnani in a truly magnificent performance) is a prostitute hoping to go straight. At the beginning of the film she sees off her pimp, gets herself a market stall, and fetches her teenage son home from the country. But her idyll does not last. The pimp keeps coming back, trying to force her back on the game, her son is unable to hold down a job and when he discovers his mother’s past he drifts into petty crime with tragic results. While very moving and at times disturbing, Pasolini’s story is imbued with a feeling that the world can be someway other than it is and that the deep splits in human nature produced by a failed civilisation can somehow be transcended. In Italian with English subtitles.
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Stream, rent or buy via
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
307868
Language
Italian
Audience classification
PG
Subject categories
Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Prostitutes
Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Prostitution
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Black and White
Holdings
VHS; Access Print (Section 1)