MovieChat Forums > Pompeii (2014) Discussion > Was the natural progression of the volca...

Was the natural progression of the volcanic explosion accurate?

posted 10 years ago by CitizenCairParavel
6 replies | jump to latest

I saw a fictionalized documentary on Pompeii, and it seemed like most died of the fumes before the lava actually hit.

[–] nurst 10 years ago

No it was not accurate at all. There was no lava or balls of fire in the actual historical eruption. Nor was there gigantic fissures opening in the ground. The people were killed by the superheated gas cloud that hit the city, baking them instantly.

Also, unlike in the movie the people were not turned into statues of ash... their bodies were buried under the volcanic ash, which hardened around the corpse. After the body decayed an almost perfect mold of their original body remained, which was later filled with plaster by archaeologists excavating the site. These plaster casts are the "bodies" which are on display today in the city and museums.

The city itself wasn't destroyed either as in the film. It too was buried under an enormous layer of ash and was almost perfectly preserved. Even bread was found still in ovens and food on tables.. exactly where they had been left.

[–] spookyrat1 10 years ago

2 days of volcanic mayhem was compressed into 30 minutes or so. Clearly in a 3d dramatic film the producers are going to ramp up the action and not necessarily worry too much about historical accuracy.🐭

[–] Enigma805 10 years ago

In this case yes but not always. Titanic for example was meant to be accurate down to the smallest details. Just saying it can be done

[–] spookyrat1 10 years ago

Titanic for example was meant to be accurate down to the smallest details.

Aspects of the boat. The story was fictional just like this. Did you really expect a 2 day long movie in keeping with historical accuracy? I didn't.🐭

[–] Enigma805 10 years ago

Of course not but they could keep it accurate as in the events of the eruption. How the people died, the volcanic ash rather than fire balls and tidal waves.

Much like the Titanic sinking actually happened the way it did in the movie with ship breaking in half etc. If this director was making Titanic he probably would have had explosions all over the place and all types of historical inaccuracies.

The side story will be a story regardless of the event

[–] spookyrat1 10 years ago

... rather than fire balls ...

It's a 3d popcorn movie. Fireballs look more spectacular than a cloud of volcanic ash. Supposedly too, archaeological evidence has indicated there was a small tsunami, though nothing of the scale seen in the movie, but let's remember tsunamis are flavours of the month, as far as disaster movies are concerned.

You're right about the ash. But seriously, in a movie such as this, the producers are going to take dramatic liberties, especially with a natural disaster occurring 2000 years ago, in an era when the majority of surviving onlookers such as Pliny the Younger, thought such things were the work of gods.🐭