Mamma Roma
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Year Released: 1962
Rating: 2.5
Hooker with a heart of gold (so many of them in movies - where are they in real life?) tries to get out of the prostitution business and become "legitimate," and wishes the same for her good for nothing, pug-faced son. Although Anna Magnani's character has a boisterous and strong personality, this is another Battered Woman movie, where the plot exists to punish her good intentions. Her son is a lousy parasite, so I reacted to his (expected) demise with great relief - a much different reaction, I imagine, than the one Pasolini was going for (the boy is strapped onto the bed in a Jesus Christ pose, perhaps as a sacrifice for the sins of the Mother).
