Zielen van Napels

Souls Of Naples is yet another example of a film that documents a peek into the lives of people trying to survive in X city. I've seen this lots and lots of times. Ever since Koyanassiquatsi and Baraka came out, this seems to be an obsessive topic for filmmakers, EG film has essentially no structure, meandering from one person to another, some scenery footage, etc. Let's see, I've seen films done like this on Iran, Rio De Janeiro, Rome, and Eastern Europe. Now it's Naples turn. This is OK, we see many different varieties of people, rich and poor, just married and widowed, rich areas, poor areas, and so on. We also get a glimpse into Gypsy life, which surprisingly made my blood boil, as I have had some rather nasty encounters with them in real life, so imagine my surprise when I became riled up during this portion of this movie. All in all, it's just an OK movie. Nothing really you haven't seen before.

I have been seeking to purchase a DVD of Monnikendam's documentary but have had some difficulty getting one shipped to the US. I saw this at the American premier at the Washington, D.C. National Gallery of Art and it was fantastic.

The film we saw included English subtitles, but a large portion of it was in Neapolitan dialect (the remainder, in Italian). The images and music were powerful. For an outsider Dutch team, the interaction with the locals throughout the poorest and richest districts of the city was impressive. The film follows a crew as they travel throughout the Mediterranean port city, carrying with them the image of a Caravaggio painting, which they use to question the people living in each of the districts. One of these districts is the housing zone for the gypsies, which the Vatican has recently issues a note about, pointing out that these people have a right to life in the manner in which they choose, just as we do.

I am commenting earlier than intended (I would have liked to have seen it a second time) in response to the inappropriate and inaccurate post from the gentleman from Vancouver. Naples is not just another "X" city, nor would there be anything wrong with documenting artistically the beauty of the world's greatest cities. I highly recommend getting your hands on this DVD or catching it at a film festival.