Fellini's Roma
© John Nesbit
"In Roma, I wanted to get across the idea that underneath Rome today is ancient Rome. So close. I am always conscious of that, and it thrills me. Imagine being in a traffic jam at the Coliseum! Rome is the most wonderful movie set in the world." Federico FelliniCertain film directors are so closely associated with a locale that we automatically pair the two together-Truffaut with Paris or Woody Allen with New York City. But Fellini is as firmly associated with Rome as Julius Caesar. Fellini's 1972 film Roma pays homage to his beloved city, but unless you are a confirmed Fellini fan, you should probably try his more traditional films before tackling this one. It's pretty surreal.
Without a straightforward plot, this underviewed film provides another autobiographical glimpse into Fellini's life through an entertaining array of visual impressions. In fact, Fellini himself will appear in a cameo as himself, directing a film production that is recording images of modern Rome. Another way to view -Roma is put on your film student persona to study this work as part of the Fellini canon-Roma is representative of the way Fellini crafts his films, using a bare outline and relying a great deal on creativity and improvisation.
Like most of Fellini's films, Roma was inspired by a dream. As he states in I, Fellini:
"I dreamed I was imprisoned in an oubliette deep under Rome. I heard unearthly voices coming through the walls. They said, 'We are the ancient Romans. We are still here.'"For this particular sequence Rome's subway serves as the perfect setting-a mysterious and dark place that frequently comes across archaeological discoveries during its excavation. We learn that Rome's subway had first been proposed in 1871 but had been buried under tons of bureaucracy and legalese for 100 years before engineers and construction workers could begin the project. The highlight of the sequence occurs when the drill breaks through a hollow portion into a 2,000 year old Roman house, only to witness the frescos deteriorate rapidly with exposure to the air.
Contrasts between ancient Rome and the more recent Rome during Fellini's life (from childhood to the WWII years to the 1970's) are made throughout the film. While filming a modern tourist bus unload its picture-taking foreigners on a peaceful Cathedral hillside, one elderly man declares,
"This isn't Rome anymore. Everyone's gone crazy. Too much of a hurry. They've become mean. The true Romans have disappeared."
 |
 |
