HEADS UP for a spectacular new documentary on the final hours of Pompeii which was first broadcast on Italian TV 7 at 21:15 on Wednesday November 20 and which will be available in recorded format in a few hours on this website:
https://www.la7.it/rivedila7: Ore 21:15: Una Giornata Particolare - le Ultime Ore di Pompei
The documentary is 2.5 hours long and covers not only Pompeii but also Herculaneum, Oplontis, Mt. Vesuvius and the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Rosary in modern Pompei. It contains mostly drone photography and recounts the semi-fictional story of three individuals, a local politician, a gladiator and a prostitute, two of whom died in Pompei while the third managed to flee to safety. A.I. has been used to re-create the faces of these individuals. The documentary has extensive photography of several of the most important villas in Pompeii, including the Villa of the Mysteries discovered in 1909. There is also photography of the latest archeological finds. There are also extensive shots of the top of Mt. Vesuvius, some filmed from the ground and others photographed by drone. This is a high-quality production narrated by a very well-known Italian journalist and two colleagues. There are numerous references to the historiography of Pompeii by Pliny the Younger. There are also cuts from the B&W documentary of the 1944 eruption made by the U.S. Army. The documentary ends, somewhat ominously, by referencing the 700,000 people who currently live at the base of the volcano and who await the inevitable new eruption, but who hopefully will not suffer the same fate as their ancestors in 79 A.D.
This new documentary is well worth watching even by those who are not particularly conversant in Italian.
https://www.la7.it/rivedila7: Ore 21:15: Una Giornata Particolare - le Ultime Ore di Pompei
The documentary is 2.5 hours long and covers not only Pompeii but also Herculaneum, Oplontis, Mt. Vesuvius and the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Rosary in modern Pompei. It contains mostly drone photography and recounts the semi-fictional story of three individuals, a local politician, a gladiator and a prostitute, two of whom died in Pompei while the third managed to flee to safety. A.I. has been used to re-create the faces of these individuals. The documentary has extensive photography of several of the most important villas in Pompeii, including the Villa of the Mysteries discovered in 1909. There is also photography of the latest archeological finds. There are also extensive shots of the top of Mt. Vesuvius, some filmed from the ground and others photographed by drone. This is a high-quality production narrated by a very well-known Italian journalist and two colleagues. There are numerous references to the historiography of Pompeii by Pliny the Younger. There are also cuts from the B&W documentary of the 1944 eruption made by the U.S. Army. The documentary ends, somewhat ominously, by referencing the 700,000 people who currently live at the base of the volcano and who await the inevitable new eruption, but who hopefully will not suffer the same fate as their ancestors in 79 A.D.
This new documentary is well worth watching even by those who are not particularly conversant in Italian.