Since I mentioned it on Tuesday, it seemed appropriate to share some thoughts I jotted down after watching Roma last weekend. It was my first Fellini, an experience I’d been awaiting for some time but since his films aren’t a regular feature of the local Blockbuster I had to wait till Movietrak appeared, and then so manipulated my DVD queue as to send me this title (it’s a great service, but the ranking of films in the queue appears to bear little correlation with the order of despatch).
In its striking final few minutes, Fellini’s Roma makes clear one of its many contradictions. The contrast of ancient and modern portrayed by motorbikes and Rome’s most famous sites, sits alongside the core contrast of beauty and decadence which the film embraces.
Starting as it does with images of Fellini’s childhood and bearing some sense of the passage of time, it takes a while for the film to make clear that its scenes are meant to represent a swathe of impressions of Rome as seen through the eyes of Fellini rather than a progressive narrative. Slipped in along the way are touches of the surreal and clear flights of fancy which do little to ground the viewer but give further insight into the filmmaker’s love of his city.
Particularly striking were the vaudeville scenes: both in the theatre where it was never clear to me whether my sympathies should lie with the audience or with the performers, or whether I should just enjoy the spectacle and interactions; and in the surreal ’ecclesiastical fashion show’ where priestly sports-robes were paraded with neon mitres, illustrating the sad failings of so many attempts by the church to engage with changing times.
The film never makes clear whether Fellini feels that the decadent has become more prevalent in Rome over his time there. Certainly the strongest sense of community is given in his portrayal of an earlier time during World War II, and perhaps his saddest scene is of ancient frescoes decaying when touched by a blast of air introduced by those excavating a new subway system. But there are many constants in his portrayal; on both sides there is a clear beauty and vibrancy which this viewer can’t help but be engaged by.