TORONTO – Long before there was a Vesuvius Observatory monitoring its seismic activity, the volcano famously buried two Roman cities under layers of its ash, pumice and pyroclastic surges. What’s left of Pompeii and Herculaneum serve only to haunt today’s travellers who walk among their ruins.
Yet for now, Vesuvius remains in a “closed conduit” phase. A scientific term for “ticking time bomb”. What then does that mean for its nearby inhabitants, who unlike their ancestors are acutely aware that Vesuvius is not some friendly fertile mountain.
Gianfranco Rosi’s documentary Sotto Le Nuvole explores this aspect of a citizenry who are quietly preoccupied with an impending disaster. Hot off a Special Jury prize at this year’s Venice Film Festival, Rosi’s film explores the daily life in Naples, away from the tourists and inside the trenches of its blue-collar ecosystem. The title is taken from a Jean Cocteau letter (to his mother), in which he writes: “Vesuvius makes all the clouds in the world”.
Below the clouds, as Rosi sees it, lies a complex community of individuals. Church goers, scientists, archaeologists and families, all of whom bear the inheritance of a tragic past, while trying to pave a future within a high-risk locale.
The area surrounding the volcano is marked by three zones: blue, yellow and red. The latter (25 municipalities) being designated for immediate evacuation in the event of an eruption – most likely to Calabria.
But the documentary covers the double threat of Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields – a super volcano. The Phlegraean Fields does not have a visible cone, but is a large caldera whose last eruption was in 1538 CE. And it’s showing signs of awakening.
“For three years, I lived and filmed at the horizons of Vesuvius, seeking traces of history, the excavation of time, the remains of everyday life. I captured the stories in the voices of those who spoke. I watched the clouds and the smoke rising from the Phlegraean Fields. When I film, I embrace the surprise in an encounter, in a place, the life of a situation”, stated the Director at the Biennale. Capturing the spirit and ambience of cities is what Rosi’s known for, particularly with his three Italian-based documentaries.
The Director won the Venice Golden Lion in 2013 for Sacra GRA, named after Rome’s longest city ring road – upon which he travelled for three years meeting the most varied kinds of people. He then travelled to Lampedusa Sicily to document the migration crisis in Fire at Sea.
Now, with Sotto Le Nuvole, Rosi enchants viewers with monochrome images of Neapolitans toiling away next to a sleeping – and violent – giant. The beautiful and colorful chaos of a normally balmy Naples, drained of its splendor.
A foreshadow of the ash which will inevitably blanket the city – in this lifetime or maybe the next. Sotto Le Nuvole is set for release on September 18 in Italy.
Images courtesy of 01 Distribution
Massimo Volpe is a filmmaker and freelance writer from Toronto: he writes reviews of Italian films/content on Netflix
