Is Rome so underappreciated, or is it just me being ignorant of related movies?

Fellini’s Roma

Right after watching “Rear Window”, I have decided to go for a really, really weird movie. It has been 3 or 4 years since I have wanted to see this film, and I have had a recording from the german TV for about 2 years lying around. This mainly is due to a misunderstanding – I have thought that it would be a 3 hour movie (and I hate those typically, as you might know) and later, the simple thought of Rome made me depressed and emo. But now that all this is over, I have finally picked up this movie.

All I knew about this movie was Fellini and the fact that this is a portrait of Rome without a real ‘story’. That means that this movie would be either brilliant or horrible. Now, it turned out that “Roma” is brilliant and horrible. I am sure for many people this movie is simply a borefest.

Let’s start with the horrible: Rome was idealised and ridiculised at the same time. Especially the part with the church people was enjoyable but ultimately a little bit ridiculous. More than that, it shows Romans are uneducated, rude people. Oh well, I guess they really are. This brings me to my second, although silly point: No matter how meaningful and necessary it is, I really dislike noise, and this movie was full of it. Shrieking children, loud cars, people crying and bitching – oh well. And finally, a non-existing storyline is far from being a bad thing in itself, but it acts as an amplifier of everything I dislike about a movie, while a story could conceal its weaknesses. Thus, the expectations on such a ‘nothing happens’ movie are just much higher than for a ‘regular’ movie, and I cannot say that “Roma” meets my expectations fully.

The great things of this movie would be: The choice of topics and sceneries, the subtle and surprisingly laughter-inducing humour. I am not sure whether an italian would agree with me, and I am very sure that your average Italy tourist would not agree with me, but I think that the mix of Mussolini fans, whores, Ancient Rome and a clerical fashion show with rollerskaters and creepy neo-goth-looking skulls is quite great. It shows how Rome is at least as full of life and culture as Paris or New york are.
I think the scene that touched me the most was the one when some tourists discovered those ancient frescos that disappeared with the entrance of the air from the outside. Oh, quel horreur! I have found that particular scene much more frightening than most horror movie scenes I have watched, it really made me hold my breath. Seeing such a beautiful, stunning scene disappearing in front of your very eyes must be horrible.

I really should watch more Fellini and especially more movies on Rome. I am thinking about “Roma, città aperta”, “La dolce vita”, “8 1/2”, “Satyricon”, “Amarcord” And now, suddenly, I also want to watch “Rien sur Robert”. Totally random, I know.