original title:
Vesuvio o: come hanno imparato a vivere in mezzo ai vulcani
directed by:
screenplay:
editing:
producer:
production:
distribution:
country:
Italy
year:
2021
film run:
90'
format:
colour
release date:
14/03/2022
festivals & awards:
The Naples metropolitan area is one of the most densely populated on the planet. It lies between Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, two of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world. Over one million people live in the socalled red zone, ready to be evacuated at the first sign of eruption.
Through the often on the verge of paradoxical existences of the people who live on a true ticking bomb, the documentary tries and investigate the deeply symbiotic relationship that links this extraordinary humanity to their volcanoes; to explore, above all judgments, the rational and irrational reasons that compel the citizens of the “Red Zone” to stay there and live this uninterrupted exchange between them and the black mountain.
Next to the scientific element, the stories of volcanologists, professors, craftsmen, fortune tellers, midwives, farmers and hermits, follow one another to form a set of tangible proofs of an everlasting danger, together with magic and many superstitions, in an attempt to explain the precarious existence of those who still live on the slopes of the volcano, nurturing the aspiration to a simpler, and yet more vital, life.
For many people, volcanoes are not just a menace, but the true incarnation of their identity. It is through these men and women stories that the tale comes to life. The “Red Zone” community living on a ticking bomb represent the most human form of life on Earth.