A World Forever in the Shadow of Apocalypse

"At least that's the mood director Gianfranco Rosi evokes in his mesmerizing documentary Pompei: Below the Clouds, which won a Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival last year and is finally being released theatrically in the U.S., ahead of a March 27 streaming premiere on Mubi. The apocalypse Rosi presents is not just the legendary one that destroyed the ancient Roman town of the film's title but an ongoing one that encompasses the calamities of our modern era as well as the rejuvenation that sometimes accompanies destruction."

"Rosi doesn't make what one might call traditional documentaries. His films often center on specific places, and his artful, precise compositions depict objects and processes as much as they might portray actual people. His Oscar-nominated 2016 masterpiece, Fire at Sea, for example, focuses on the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa and presents both its ordinary residents and the mostly African refugees who land on its shores."

"Below the Clouds begins with Pliny the Younger's contemporaneous description of the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum, but intercuts the images of ruin with glimpses of the modern metropolis. Naples shimmers at night. Sometimes it burns, too: This is an area of regular seismic activity as well as wildfires, and at an emergency call center, we hear ordinary citizens calling in, some of them even estimating the most recent tremor's reading on the Richter scale."

Pompei: Below the Clouds is a documentary by Gianfranco Rosi that explores Naples and Mt. Vesuvius through a lens connecting ancient and modern catastrophe. The film won a Special Jury Prize at Venice Film Festival and employs black-and-white cinematography to depict collapse and destruction. Rather than traditional documentary format, Rosi focuses on specific places through artful compositions emphasizing objects, processes, and textures alongside people. The film begins with Pliny the Younger's account of Pompeii and Herculaneum's destruction, then intercuts these historical images with contemporary Naples scenes. Modern Naples experiences regular seismic activity and wildfires, with emergency services constantly responding to citizen calls. Despite depicting ruin and calamity, the film maintains a strangely hopeful tone, suggesting rejuvenation accompanies destruction.

Read at Vulture