The Roman Mother - the epitome of post-war Roman society.

"Mama Roma" is a film written and directed by Pasolini in 1962 with a similar neorealist style. Similar to other neorealist films, the content of the film reflects the hardships of life in Italian society after the war. Except for a rich man who was extorted by blackmail, the others were all the dying people in the society, chicken girls, thieves, hawkers, ruffians, and little gangsters who did nothing. The mother of Rome brought her child to Rome in order to escape from the countryside. However, life was unsatisfactory. The surrounding environment of her son made this child who was a little stupid and a little bad, and eventually became a little gangster who stole everywhere. The man was captured and eventually died in the hospital (prison?). This movie contains Pa's own personal life experience. His father was a fascist. He traveled to many places when he was young. His mother took him to Rome to live, and he also experienced a hard and depressing life. Pa said in his autobiography that For a period of time has been under a haze of death. His contradictory and rebellious nature, as well as his anti-religion and anti-authority in the future, should be said to have an important influence on the experience of his youth. It can be said that it is this experience that makes his film reveal a real life atmosphere and care. The "Nights of Kabylia", which he participated in the screenwriting, also experienced his similar low-level humanistic care ("Nights of Kabylia" also uses a half-old milf's chicken girl as the protagonist). Some shooting techniques in the film, such as outdoor live shooting and natural light shooting (so that many of the night scenes in the film are too dark to be seen by five fingers) have also labeled "Mother Rome" with neorealism. However, the characteristic of Pa's works is not neo-realism, but the story method of combining myth and religion with reality. This point can even be felt in "Mother of Rome" as the prototype of this creative idea. It should be said that there are some metaphors hidden in "Roman" that make it different from general neorealist works. The opening is a "Last Supper"-style wedding dinner scene - a long horizontal table, the protagonist sits in the middle of the picture, and the rest are lined up on both sides. And the gift of Roman mother on the "Last Supper" is a blasphemous pig. The protagonist of "The Last Supper" - "Jesus", hehe). In the age of God's death, such a beginning can't help but make people feel emotional. In addition, the place where Roman mother lived in Rome was an open space, and there was only one cemetery. When the last child died, Roman mother also ran home and opened the window to prepare to commit suicide, but saw the open space in front of her suddenly stop. It seemed that she had no intention. The title of "Mother of Rome" reflects an intention to use it as a microcosm of Roman society or as a centralized representative. The last scene is the death of the child. Maybe the director didn't have such an intention, but it can't help but remind people of Prometheus in bondage. The child was tied to the bed for stealing things for money, and Prometheus was tied to the cliff for stealing the holy flame. Both suffer, the former is for the survival and happiness of individuals, the latter is for the survival and happiness of mankind. . . At this point, I may no longer feel blame and criticism for the child's theft, but instead have a bit of martyrdom, a martyr of this post-war devastated and ancient Roman society. Last but not least, the performance of the mother and child is very good.