The film describes the history of Pozzuoli, a village just under Naples. The period is from 538 BC to 1984, but between the different times, no direct line is drawn. The most antique pictures are about Nero’s murder of his mother Agrippina, the oracles of the Sibyl of Cumae, the worrying presence of the young martyr Artema and the roamings of Maria the Fool, the heroine who shall save the city. In the early seventies of the 20th century, the country round the bay is influenced by the rise and fall of the land. It marks a break in the relationship between people and their earth. The Gioias, a family of fishermen, are forced to leave their homes by the slow earth movement. They have to rethink their life.îThe ambitious Giro du lune tra terra e mare is very intelligent in its structure. The viewer gets to see a geographical area of Italy that is inculcated with an age-old tradition. The film even has to be subtitled in Italy, because of the much Neapolitan and Latin spoken. Gaudino evokes the past by scratching images and manipulating their speed, which works to alienate but is also very natural. A true tour de force that works very effectively without any international-looking I Claudius-BBC aesthetics.
