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Documentary  •  2025  •  114 min

Pompei: Below the Clouds (2025)

Pompei: Below the Clouds poster

Pompei: Below the Clouds (2025)

Rating & Dimensions

Bias Rating
Analyzing...
Leans Progressive
Political: Leans Left
Diversity: Moderate
Family Values: Mixed
Viewer Rating
7.9

Overview

Gianfranco Rosi's documentary watches daily life in Naples unfold under the twin volcanic threats of Vesuvius and Campi Flegrei. Archaeologists sift through Pompeii's ruins while emergency services prepare for a disaster no one can fully rehearse. The film earns a Leans Progressive label primarily through its political framing: the shadow of ancient catastrophe becomes a lens for contemporary anxieties about climate crisis, geopolitical conflict, and class inequality. This is less a science documentary than an observational essay that connects natural risk to human systems broadly construed as fragile and inequitable. The diverse cast of residents, Syrian sailors, and Japanese archaeologists adds cosmopolitan texture without pushing explicit social messaging.

Starring Cast

N/A

Detailed Bias Analysis

Analyzing...
Leans Progressive

Primary

Political: Leans Left
Confidence: High

The film's central subject of contemporary life in Naples under Vesuvius is framed through progressive preoccupations with the climate crisis, ongoing wars, class inequities, and the ethics of global systems, making the dominant themes left-leaning. The decisive factor is the explicit linkage of natural disaster to anthropogenic and geopolitical crises rather than neutral historical contemplation.

Diversity: Moderate
Confidence: High

The documentary portrays a diverse mix of real people in the Naples area, including local Italians alongside Syrian sailors and Japanese archaeologists, as part of its observational focus on daily life and institutions under volcanic threat. The framing emphasizes community resilience and historical layers without critiquing traditional identities or advancing explicit social themes.

Secondary

Family Values: Mixed
Confidence: High

The film is an observational documentary depicting everyday life in Naples under Vesuvius through vignettes of archaeologists, children in learning settings, emergency responders, and routine activities, with no central narrative or framing of marriage, parenting, gender roles, or family values.

LGBTQ: N/A
Confidence: Low

This observational documentary examines daily life in Naples amid volcanic threats, focusing on archaeologists, emergency workers, and residents without reference to LGBTQ+ characters or themes.

Trans: N/A
Confidence: Low

This observational documentary examines everyday life in Naples under the shadow of Vesuvius through black-and-white footage of real residents and locations, with no identifiable transgender characters or themes.

Female Combat: N/R

The movie does not contain any action or adventure elements.

Gender Swap: No
Confidence: High

Documentary observing real contemporary residents, archaeologists, and emergency workers in Naples with no fictional characters, adaptations, or recast historical figures.

Race Swap: No
Confidence: Low

Documentary observing modern residents, archaeologists and daily life near Vesuvius with no scripted characters or historical figure portrayals.

Hinduism: N/A
Confidence: Low

Not depicted in the film.

Viewer Rating Breakdown

7.9

Viewer Rating

Combines user and critic ratings from four sources

User Ratings

IMDB logo
6.9
The Movie Database logo
6.0

Critic Ratings

Rotten Tomatoes logo
9.8
Metacritic logo
8.7

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