Below the Clouds

“Vesuvius makes all the clouds in the world”. This Jean Cocteau quote, from which the film takes its name, establishes the motivation behind Italian filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi’s latest documentary, Below the Clouds. The feature seeks to offer a portrait of the daily lives of the people in Naples who live and work amongst Mount Vesuvius, the Phlegraean Fields, the ruins of Pompeii, Herculaneum and the submerged Roman villas. Vesuvius, with its rich history filled with ancient mythology and devastating destruction, is a story that has been more frequently told. Whilst Vesuvius looms in the background and intermittently emits smoke, Rosi chooses to focus the lens on those who are underneath the famed volcano, shining a light on the lesser-known stories that are occurring today.

Shot over several years, the project submits numerous vignettes of everyday life in Naples, with each story highlighting a different part of the city. Museum workers survey statues and strive to understand the past. Japanese archaeologists excavate sites in an attempt to preserve and document history. A learned man provides after-school teaching and intellectual guidance to young children, and emergency support workers answer phones from a command centre and deal with calls of varying severity, ranging from a request for the time to expressing a desire for refuge from an abuser. All these facets of life are carefully observed by Rosi in a film that is visually breathtaking. The photography is stunning and whilst filmed in black and white, perhaps in reference to the clouds of grey ash that cover the city, the lives that are presented here are clearly colourful.

Through these small fragments of daily life, intercepted with images of Vesuvius, Rosi shows us that the volcano, whether positively or negatively, knowingly or unwittingly, does play a part in these lives. Some people live with deference towards the volcano and have an explorative aspiration to trace and understand the history it has left behind. Some live with trepidation, dealing with frequent earthquakes and a fearful foresight at the extent of damage that could be caused by the volcano. And for some, the volcano is but a constant fact, a backdrop to the complexities of their own existence. Rosi captures all of this with a measured hand, and alongside a sweeping musical score provided by Daniel Blumberg (the most recent recipient of the Oscar for Best Original Score), Below the Clouds culminates as a beautiful homage to the people of Naples.

Sunny Morgan

Below the Clouds does not have a release date yet.

Read more reviews from our London Film Festival coverage here.

For further information about the event, visit the London Film Festival website here.

Watch the trailer for Below the Clouds here: