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Fellini's Roma - Page 3

© John Nesbit

Some of the longer sequences occur in brothels after Fellini compares the young hippies hanging around the fountains with their ideas of "free love" to his younger days during the war when visits for "paid love" were frequent. In keeping with Fellini's earthiness, the professional women shown here are anything but glamorous-they are ample breasted, well fed, and experienced middle-aged women for the most part who parade around the room of men taunting them to give them a try. In America, only a director like John Waters would think to cast some of these women as prostitutes, but Fellini provides a touch of realism from his youth in these scenes. Or is he toying with us?

Later in the film there is a parallel scene with Catholic nuns, priests, and cardinals providing the laughs, as they participate in a "fashion show," modeling the latest in habits and vestments to an audience of professional Catholics. This is not the first time that Fellini has paired the sacred and the secular together, but this is certainly the most humorous instance.

Watch for a poignant cameo by Italian actress Anna Magnani near the end of the film, appearing as a night creature who sleeps during the day and prowls the streets by night to symbolize the city itself-"she-wolf and vestal virgin, noblewoman and fishwife, somber and festive." Her "Ciao" to Fellini are the last words she will ever speak on the screen-she died shortly after filming.

The collage of surrealistic images will seem bizarre to neophytes to Fellini's films, but there are so many great individual moments that will have audiences laughing despite their confusion. Roma actually makes a lot more sense if you have previously seen a number of other Fellini films; in fact, Roma treads upon familiar ground. Always at the center is Fellini's love of his beloved city. As a mini guide to what you have been seeing, Gore Vidal provides pertinent commentary in a restaurant scene near the end:

"Rome is the city of illusions. Not only by chance, you have here the church, the government, the cinema. They each produce illusions like you and I do."

I've only been to the Rome airport, so my first impressions of the Eternal City consist mostly of a chaotic terminal with numerous armed uniformed guards. Fellini's films create a great desire to explore the city, and Roma especially convinces me that I must add Rome to my "must see" list. Sadly, Fellini no longer can create new imagery of Rome for us. But we have his body of work to refer to in order to gain insights into his beloved city and into our own dreams and imaginings. Roma should not be the first Fellini film on your list to see, but it ranks as a fine piece of filmmaking for Fellini devotees.

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