Pompei: Below the Clouds

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Pompei: Below the Clouds

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1h 55m

Documentary

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97%

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32 Reviews

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Fewer than 50 Ratings

From award-winning filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi comes Pompei: Below the Clouds, a striking portrait of life in Naples, a city living in the shadow of Vesuvius. Beneath the quiet threat of eruption, people go about their days: archaeologists unearth the past, children learn as the earth hums, firefighters wait for the next call. The result is a portrait at once local and universal: a reflection on humanity's capacity to live, love, and rebuild in the shadow of the unimaginable.

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Robert Abele

Los Angeles Times

4d

Absorbing this well-chosen album is a treat, and a chance to appreciate the delicate mortality that thrives in a place simultaneously enormous, eternal and ephemeral.

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Kimberley Jones

Austin Chronicle

6d

3.5/5

The effect is something like a series of living dioramas, with the viewer swiveling between tableaux and softly encouraged to make their own connections.

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Bilge Ebiri

New York Magazine/Vulture

Mar 6

Shot in black and white and filled with images of collapse, Below the Clouds is nevertheless a strangely hopeful work.

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Diego Batlle

Otroscines.com

1d

4/5

...at times the story gets a little scattered...but if one accepts these excesses and immerses oneself in the visual and sound universe, the result is fascinating and unforgettable. [Full review in Spanish]

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Chuck Bowen

Style Weekly (Richmond, VA)

2d

In "Below the Clouds," the tangible and figurative cohabitate freely.

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Erik Reeds

Spectrum Culture

Mar 11

A gorgeous but languorous exploration of Neapolitan everyday life, this documentary can sometimes spend a little too much time observing.

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Marvin B.

@princedoc44 2d

I didn’t particularly care for this movie. I was expecting a movie about how the neopolitans live under the threat of Vesuvius. What you get if a lot of scenes with no explanations and no connections. This movie missed on many levels.

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Stephen C

@bob25009 Mar 7

Real footage in 1 hour and 55 minutes. All ages admitted.

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Gianfranco Rosi

Director

Gianfranco Rosi

Writer

Gianfranco Rosi

Cinematographer

Gianfranco Rosi

Film Editor

Fabrizio Federico

Film Editor

Donatella Palermo

Producer

Pompei: Below the Clouds: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

From award-winning filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi comes Pompei: Below the Clouds, a striking portrait of life in Naples, a city living in the shadow of Vesuvius. Beneath the quiet threat of eruption, people go about their days: archaeologists unearth the past, children learn as the earth hums, firefighters wait for the next call. The result is a portrait at once local and universal: a reflection on humanity's capacity to live, love, and rebuild in the shadow of the unimaginable.

Director: Gianfranco Rosi
Producer: Donatella Palermo, Gianfranco Rosi, Paolo Del Brocco
Screenwriter: Gianfranco Rosi, Gianfranco Rosi
Distributor: MUBI
Production Co: RAI Cinema, 21uno Film, Stemal Entertainment
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: Italian
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 6, 2026, Limited
Runtime: 1h 55m