Pompei: Below the Clouds · reception & legacy
2025 · Gianfranco Rosi
How Pompei: Below the Clouds has been received, argued over, and remembered.
What's debated
As with every Rosi documentary, the split is between those who find his patient, narration-free observation hypnotic and those who find it shapeless — though critics were near-unanimous this time (98% on Rotten Tomatoes).
Where it stands
Cinephiles slot it as the closing panel of Rosi's unofficial Italy triptych, after Sacro GRA (Rome's ring road) and Fire at Sea (Lampedusa).
★ Did you know? It won the Special Jury Prize at Venice 2025 — fitting for Rosi, still the only documentary filmmaker to have taken the top prize at both Venice (Sacro GRA, 2013) and Berlin (Fire at Sea, 2016).
Named by the director
Influences Gianfranco Rosi has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.
- Journey to Italy (1954) — Rosi said the Pompeii scene 'was always in my mind' once he knew he'd shoot there, and he weaves passages of the film directly into his own.
- Roberto Rossellini — Rosi calls Rossellini 'my favorite director' and cites his method of 'interacting with reality and transforming it into something else' as the film's guiding reference.