Fellini's Roma

Federico Fellini has created some of the most enduring cinematic classics of all time. The best Fellini movies are filled with magic and move within a dreamlike realm or flow like visual memories. Like memories, they often do not have a structured narrative and concrete character development but instead string together related events and impressions of interesting people and places. Watching these movies is like listening to fantastical, impressionistic stories told by a friend or relative who has lived the type of life we can only imagine. In Roma, Fellini actually narrates the film and thus is literally telling the audience this tale.

Roma is Fellini's love letter to the city where he came of age both professionally and personally. It is loosely structured around a fictional Fellini and his relationship with and impressions of this incredible city throughout various stages of his life. The first scenes show how Fellini became captivated by the thought of Rome as schoolboy in a small provincial town. Later, as a young man, Fellini arrives in Rome and is immediately drawn into the vibrant and colorful life of the city. The family with whom Fellini is renting a room welcomes him to their evening dinner at a local cafe. It is a wonderful scene showing a raucous and enjoyable gathering of the locals at the outdoor restaurant laughing, yelling, eating and drinking wine. It is an affectionate scene of a communal way of life that disappeared in the U.S. decades ago but that I still saw vestiges of during my short time in Italy. The Italian dinner is an evening social event and here it is displayed in all its loud, hand-gesturing glory.

Roma moves back-and-forth in time, juxtaposing scenes of Roman life in the then-current 1970s with other periods during Fellini’s lifetime in Fascist and post-Fascist Italy. This non-linear style emphasizes that Rome is a modern city that is still very closely tied to its historic past. In Rome, every day life transpires in the shadow of the ruins of the Coliseum. The nostalgic Rome Fellini remembers from the ‘30s and ‘40s is contrasted with scenes of him working on a movie about Rome in the ‘70s. The filmmakers show hippies hanging out in the park and the older generation complaining about how the city has changed. The film crew also has to navigate the endless traffic jams that fill the modern Roman streets. The closing scene of the film is also a surreal combination of modern and ancient Rome. Fellini’s camera moves through the dim nighttime streets of Rome basking in the timeless beauty of the city. Suddenly, this reverie is interrupted by an army of motorcyclists roaring through the streets. Although loud and fast, the cyclists bring their own type of otherworldly beauty to the scene with their headlights shining amongst the monuments and buildings of classical Rome.

Of course, no portrait of Italian or Roman life would be complete without mentioning the Catholic Church. Fellini does so in his typically subversive and humorous way by presenting an elaborate church fashion show. Again juxtaposing two opposites of Roman life, the fashion industry and the Catholic Church, Fellini has fun with roller-skating priests modeling the latest fashion in robes and nuns displaying large, elaborate habits. This scene seems more gently farcical than profane even while it is clearly mocking the excesses and absurdities of both the church and high-fashion culture.

The scene that best epitomizes the mingling of past and present in Roman life takes place during the construction of subway tunnels under the city. The drilling crew suddenly breaks through a wall into a buried villa from ancient Rome. Filled with frescoes and statues and other signs of ancient Roman life, the villa is eerily lit by the workers lights as they wander through the damp remains of Romans from 2,000 years ago. To everyone’s dismay, the workers helplessly watch as the frescoes begin to quickly deteriorate after being exposed to the air. It is as if they cannot survive once exposed to the modern world. This does not seem to be a condemnation of the modern world but rather a warning to be protective and respectful of the past while moving forward.

Throughout the film, Fellini shows affection for all aspects of Rome. As he narrates this character study of the city, Fellini is not like the old curmudgeon complaining about the changes. He is simply showing Rome through his unique perspective - in its beauty and its faults, in its history and its modern evolution. Roma is like a postcard from Fellini inviting everyone to experience the Eternal City. As Fellini himself once said: “Rome is the most wonderful movie set in the world.”