Name: Sotto le nuvole
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2026-03-06
Duration: 1 h 55 min
Rating: 6.9

One of my favorites at the Yamagata Film Festival

Below the Clouds is a beautifully shot black-and-white film set beneath Vesuvius, in and around Naples, where the ground's restlessness is part of everyday life. We listen in as firefighters and emergency line call-centre workers field calls from locals. The conversations are dramatic, candid, overwhelmed, yet somehow buoyed by a cheeky resilience that makes you laugh even as you register the stakes. That tonal tightrope, between panic and comedy, quietly nudges you to reflect on your own responses to disaster and uncertainty.

All the while, the film slows down to the patient rhythm of archaeology. A Japanese team continues a long-running excavation of the Villa Augustea, and Pompeii's ruins hover nearby as a reminder of the region's buried futures. The juxtaposition is haunting: today's anxious voices against the careful unearthing of lives sealed by time. It re-humanizes a landscape that can feel overexposed by tourism, and restores it as a place of people, not just history.

Italian cinema has deeply influenced world cinema through its socially conscious realism and modernist experimentation, but it also flourished in popular genres like peplum (sword & sandal), giallo thrillers, and broad comedies. Its narratives often weave together politics, contemporary social change, class consciousness, and family dynamics, balancing artistic ambition with entertainment that resonated widely.

Lamberto Maggiorani in Bicycle Thieves (1948)

The documentary is a form of non-fiction storytelling that aims to present factual information, insights, and perspectives on real-world subjects, events, issues, or people. Documentaries can cover a wide range of topics, including history, science, culture, social issues, nature, biographies, and more.

Dziga Vertov in Man with a Movie Camera (1929)

Naples faces dual volcanic threats from Vesuvius and Campi Flegrei. Amid increasing tremors, archaeologists work as residents live anxiously, haunted by Pompeii's fate while emergency services strain.

Get a closer look at some of Hollywood's perfect pairs.

Hollywood Power Couples

Get a closer look at some of Hollywood&#39;s perfect pairs.

"The Gentlemen" and "Slow Horses" return this fall, while the "Reacher" spin-off series "Neagley" makes its debut. See our guide of the biggest Fall TV and streaming releases.

2026 Fall TV and Streaming Watch Guide

&quot;The Gentlemen&quot; and &quot;Slow Horses&quot; return this fall, while the &quot;Reacher&quot; spin-off series &quot;Neagley&quot; makes its debut. See our guide of the biggest Fall TV and streaming releases.

Get a closer look at these actors from their many TV and streaming series roles.

Streaming Stars, Then and Now

My Undesirable Friends: Part I - Last Air in Moscow

My Undesirable Friends: Part I - Last Air in Moscow (2024)

Clara Schwinning and Maral Keshavarz in Phantoms of July (2025)

Cate Blanchett, Charlotte Rampling, Tom Waits, Mayim Bialik, Vicky Krieps, Adam Driver, Indya Moore, and Luka Sabbat in Father Mother Sister Brother (2025)

Rebecca Hall and Ben Whishaw in Peter Hujar's Day (2025)

Alexander Kuznetsov in Two Prosecutors (2025)

Pompei: Below the Clouds

Videos1

Photos2

User reviews8

More like this

Related interests

Storyline

Did you know

Top picks

Details

Box office

Tech specs

Contribute to this page

More to explore

Recently viewed