‘Pompei: Below the Clouds’ Review: Trembling Beauties, Old and New

If you blink during the opening of “Below the Clouds,” you may miss the buildings clustered at the base of the volcano. Rosi soon takes you in for a closer look as well as to points across the region, mapping it in exciting, sometimes surprising ways. You’re often on the move, traveling here and there, at a pleasantly steady, unrushed pace that never drags. Although there’s no overarching narration, Rosi incorporates different voices that together create a chorus that helps fill in the story of a people and a place. In one corner, archaeologists painstakingly excavate relics and bones, while elsewhere a prosecutor who’s investigating illegal subterranean tunnels climbs into one room that’s been robbed of its frescoes.