Mamma.
On Mother's Day we rightly honor our mothers. Those of us whose mothers are dead honor their memory. So much can be uttered about the intimate bond between mother and child, I shudder at any real attempt. I could lapse into the sentimental, not that it would be harmful. As an Italian-American I think of the treacly popular song "Mamma," written by Cesare A. Bixio and sung by every tenor from Beniamino Gigli to Luciano Pavarotti. Pavarotti has an album with that name. Gigli even made a 1941 movie called Mamma, in which he sings the song. Even not knowing Italian, you would get the idea. It begins:
Mamma, son tanto felice
perchè ritorno da te.
La mia canzone ti dice
ch'è il più bel giorno per me!
In the 1984 Italian film Kaos, based on stories by dramatist Luigi Pirandello and directed by the Taviani Brothers, the epilog is especially moving. In it the character of Pirandello returns to his ancestral Sicilian home. He imagines having a conversation with the spirit of his deceased mother and they share nostalgic remembrances. That twenty-minute jewel is for me the most poignant moment in all Italian cinema. Here are the two of them, son and mother:
And here is my own mother. She died in 1983, and you know, I would like to talk with her again too.
(Kaos captures cross-posted to film_stills)
Mamma, son tanto felice
perchè ritorno da te.
La mia canzone ti dice
ch'è il più bel giorno per me!
In the 1984 Italian film Kaos, based on stories by dramatist Luigi Pirandello and directed by the Taviani Brothers, the epilog is especially moving. In it the character of Pirandello returns to his ancestral Sicilian home. He imagines having a conversation with the spirit of his deceased mother and they share nostalgic remembrances. That twenty-minute jewel is for me the most poignant moment in all Italian cinema. Here are the two of them, son and mother:
And here is my own mother. She died in 1983, and you know, I would like to talk with her again too.
(Kaos captures cross-posted to film_stills)