THE BONDS WE FORGE CAN CHANGE US FOREVER.Ā
12-year-old Senegalese orphan Momo (Ibrahima Gueye) is taken in by an elderly woman (Sophia Loren) he once tried to rob. Perhaps it took her son, director Edoardo Ponti, to lure the 85-year-old Loren out of her retirement, but the role must have been tempting as well. Sheās touching as the Auschwitz survivor and former prostitute who now cares for abandoned children; young Gueye is also fine as the drug-dealing boy who must consider if he wants a future or not. As for the story, itās wholesome but unexceptional, addressing complicated issues without ever reaching far beneath the surface.
2020-Italy. 94 min. Color. Widescreen. Directed byĀ Edoardo Ponti. Novel: Romain Gary (āThe Life Before Usā).Ā Song: āIo SƬ (Seen)ā (Diane Warren, Laura Pausini, NiccolĆ² Agliardi).Ā Cast: Sophia Loren (Madame Rosa), Ibrahima Gueye (Momo), Abril Zamora (Lola), Renato Carpentieri, Babak Karimi, Massimiliano Rossi.
Trivia: Italian title: La vita davanti a sƩ. The novel was previously filmed as Madame Rosa (1977) and as a French TV movie in 2010.
