Netflix Review: Sophia Loren Remains A Glorious Screen Presence In ‘The Life Ahead’



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Sophia Loren in ‘Life Ahead’

Madame Rosa (Sophia Loren) was an old woman who cared for children of mothers who could not take care of them, such as Iosif and Babu. One day her friend Dr. Coen (Renato Carpentieri) asked her to take care of a strong-willed 12-year-old Muslim orphan boy from Senegal named Mohamed, nicknamed Momo (Ibrahima Gueye), and she reluctantly agreed to some additional costs. cash.

Rosa asked her friend Hamil (Babak Karimi) to help her instill some discipline by letting him help her shop. But unbeknownst to her, Momo was secretly negotiating with local drug lord Ruspa (Massimiliano Rossi). Momo eventually warmed up and grew more fond of Rosa, Hamil, and her transgender neighbor Lola (Abril Zamora). However, Rosa’s mental faculties were slowly being eroded by insanity.

The screenplay for this film was adapted from the novel “The Life Before Us” by Romain Gary. It was co-written and directed by Eduardo Ponti as a powerful acting showcase for his mother, the one and only Sophia Loren.

Like Madame Rosa, tired of the world, Loren was the main reason for seeing this movie. Its presence on the megawatt screen totally dominated the scene every time it was turned on. His Madame Rosa may have been old, exhausted, and of ever-deteriorating mind and body, but there’s no denying how Loren shone through it all. You can transcend the weakness of your character and the poverty of your surroundings and engrave the plight of Madame Rosa in the hearts of your audience with a simple glance or a sigh.

As the untamed hedgehog Momo, Ibrahima Gueye played a challenging role for a child actor. Momo was a cunning young man and fiercely independent on the outside, but on the inside he was an abandoned child who yearned to be loved. Her dreams of a loving guardian lioness seem to attest to this inner need. These transitions were quite abrupt and unpredictable over the course of this movie, which created a lot of uncomfortable tension. His best defining moment was that quiet scene with Madame Rosa after Iosif was claimed by his mother, a heartbreaking moment, naturally, effortlessly.

The tone and pacing of the film can be uneven and it is not easy for everyone to watch. However, those poignant moments of cuteness and transformation between Momo and Madame Rosa made the entire movie worth watching. At 86 years old, Loren still possessed that incandescent screen magnetism and fluid mastery of her craft to get our attention and admiration. An Oscar nomination for best actress is inevitable.

This review was originally published on the author’s blog, “Fred Said”.

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