Italian documentary-maker Gianfranco Rosi, known for his award-winning films Sacro GRA and Fire at Sea, has completed his trilogy with a black-and-white portrait of Naples that captures a city tourists seldom see. The film, Pompeii: Below the Clouds, deliberately avoids clichés such as pizza, the mafia or Maradona murals, focusing instead on the psychological impact of living under the shadow of Mount Vesuvius.
Rosi, 62, spent four years in the city, documenting residents’ anxieties about seismic activity. Much of the film takes place in the control room of the Naples fire brigade, where callers report tremors. Some callers express terror for their loved ones, while others seem to long for a catastrophe. ‘Was that an earthquake?’ one caller asks. ‘Will there be another one?’ The volcano becomes a mythical figure, like Shiva – a destroyer and a regenerator.
Shot in monochrome with a soundtrack played back through an underwater speaker, the film creates an extraterrestrial atmosphere. Rosi describes his approach as psychogeographic, akin to British writers Iain Sinclair and filmmaker Patrick Keiller. However, his excavation is not of the ground but of the minds of the city’s inhabitants, including Titti, a ‘street teacher’ who instructs pupils from his antiques shop, and Maria, a conservator at the National Archaeological Museum.
Rosi’s previous works include Sacro GRA, a portrait of Rome’s ring road that won the Golden Lion at Venice, and Fire at Sea, about Lampedusa and the refugee crisis, which won the Golden Bear at Berlin. He is among the few directors to have won top prizes at two of Europe’s three major film festivals. Pompeii: Below the Clouds completes his trilogy and serves as a deliberate counterpoint to other recent portrayals of Naples.
