The magnificent Anna Magnani stars as a mother desperate to get her little girl into the movies in this brilliant movie from director Luchino Visconti. Released in 1951, the film would be worth watching if only for the behind-the-scenes look it gives the audience into the legendary Cinecittà studios. It would also be worth your time just for the way it tells the story of a mother so desperate for a better life for her daughter that she’ll risk everything to make it happen, even if the world she dreams of only really exists on celluloid. What makes this film worth owning, and watching over and over again, though, is the stunning performance of Magnani. She not only beautifully (and heartbreakingly) captures the essence of the desperate mother, but uses the few scenes she has without the daughter to show us who the mother is as a person, and it’s a richly satisfying portrait that she paints.
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