Description:

Anna Magnani is Mamma Roma, a middle-aged prostitute who attempts to extricate herself from her sordid past for the sake of her son. Filmed in the great tradition of Italian neorealism, Mamma Roma offers an unflinching look at the struggle for survival in postwar Italy, and highlights director Pier Paolo Pasolini’s lifelong fascination with the marginalized and dispossessed. Though banned upon its release in Italy for obscenity, today Mamma Roma is considered a classic: a glimpse at a country’s most controversial director in the process of finding his style and a powerhouse performance by one of cinema’s greatest actresses.

Special Features:

• New digital transfer, enhanced for 16x9 televisions
• Three new interviews about director Pier Paolo Pasolini: Bernardo Bertolucci, an assistant to Pasolini on his early films; Tonino Delli Colli, cinematographer on eleven of Pasolini’s fourteen films; and Enzo Siciliano, author of Pasolini: A Biography
• Pier Paolo Pasolini (1995), a 55-minute documentary by filmmaker Ivo Barnaḅ Micheli covering the career of the controversial artist
• La Ricotta (1963), a 35-minute film by Pasolini about a director who sets out to make a film about the Passion of Jesus
• Original theatrical trailer
• Poster gallery
• New essay by novelist and cultural critic Gary Indiana
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition
• 1.33:1 aspect ratio