Mamma Roma

Anne DeSalvo’s Mamma Roma is about the earthy and unkempt Italian actress Anna Magnani. Magnani radiated with a fierce intelligence, uniqueness and sensuality, but lacked the bombshell good looks of her contemporaries like Bridget Bardot, Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida. She rocketed to international celebrity with Roberto Rossellini’s OPEN CITY and came to epitomize Italy’s Neo Realism movement and transcended it with an exceptional rawness, depth and honesty.