Original subtitles

[rumbling]

♪ ♪

[explosion]

[screaming and shouting]

[Praetorian] Everyone into the boat sheds. Now!

[Amalthea] This isn't just an earthquake, is it?

[screaming]

[Tom Hiddleston] Pompeii isn't buried instantly.

It took a day.

So, by combining evidence...

Wow!

...and imagination...

...I'm tracing three real Romans to see if they survive that day.

A teenage boy.

[Professor] Avianius was possibly apprenticed

to bronzesmiths called the Masuri.

[Claudia] Avi! I've got you. I've got you.

[Tom] Julia Felix, the one I can't quite figure out.

[Julia Felix] We are leaving Pompeii.

[Cassius] I'm staying right here.

[Julia] You haven't paid your bill since when?

[Amalthea] A month.

[Cassius] Impossible, woman.

[Professor] Maybe it's her attachment to the people.

[Tom] And the third, an old soldier

who was once the best of the best.

[Helvia] Not everyone is just out for themself.

[Praetorian] Sweet fantasy, rich lady.

[Julia] Hear me, Isis. I pray to you.

[Darius] There seemed to have been some sort of attempt

of an evacuation.

[Praetorian] Get them going! Everyone is getting to safety!

Come on!

[Tom] Something did happen on this beach.

[watch beeping]

[watch beeping]

So, is this it?

Praetorian's out of time?

[Chris] Unfortunately, yes.

We've now entered the last phase of the eruption, phase 5,

and it's the most deadly, what we call a pyroclastic surge.

That eruption column, it's collapsing in on itself,

generating these huge boiling clouds,

these burning avalanches of rock and ash.

They're hurtling down the mountainside

at over 60 miles per hour.

Herculaneum is first in the firing line.

[Tom] They've helped hundreds evacuate,

but there are still so many people on that beach.

How long do they have?

[Chris] Minutes.

♪ ♪

[explosion]

[Praetorian] Into the boat sheds, now!

[screaming and shouting]

[Helvia] Let's go!

[Praetorian] Now! Come on! Come on!

[screaming and shouting]

[Helvia] Hurry!

[Praetorian] Shelter.

♪ ♪

[Chris] These flows are traveling fast,

but they're also incredibly hot.

Over 900 degrees Fahrenheit.

[Tom] Wait. 900 degrees?

[Helvia] Wait at the back!

[Chris] It's hot enough to fuse metal to your bone.

[shouting]

Hot enough to even vaporize the blood

in people's veins.

[sobbing]

[clock ticking]

[clock ticking]

[clock ticking]

[clock ticking]

[clock ticking]

[clock ticking]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[Tom] In those final moments,

the boat sheds were the only option,

but tragically, it wasn't enough.

Although almost no remains were found in the town above,

roughly 300 bodies were found

when the boat sheds were excavated.

So many people--

men, women, and children.

The last citizens of Herculaneum,

all huddled together,

holding on to one another as they died.

The archaeologists estimate that Herculaneum was home

to roughly 5,000 people.

So if it weren't for the evacuation,

if it weren't for the sacrifice,

the loss could have been so much more.

The remains of the Praetorian guard were discovered here,

where he fell on that beach.

He was found with his military belt, his full pay,

and of course, his sword.

These personal possessions, as well as his physical remains,

were all that was left of him,

but they tell us so much about the man he was.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

We don't know his name.

We know him only as a Praetorian.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

But I know what he did.

I don't need his name.

I found the man.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

So, is that the end of phase 5, Chris?

[Chris] I'm afraid not.

The pyroclastic surge that hit Herculaneum

was just one in a series that would be unleashed

by Vesuvius that day.

[Tom] So the very same thing is coming for Pompeii,

coming for Julia and Avianius?

[Chris] Yes. The eruption column will continue to collapse,

generating pyroclastic surge after pyroclastic surge.

[Tom] So these surges are about to hit Pompeii.

I can't imagine Avianius and Julia

have more than an hour left

before the city is completely buried.

[Tom] If anyone's still alive down there,

they're living in a nightmare.

[screaming]

[screaming]

[screaming]

This is Avianius' and his mother's last chance.

Their window for survival is closing.

[Claudia] Avi, are you ready?

[Tom] They need to leave.

And they need to leave now.

[Claudia] We don't need Granddad's mask, love.

Leave it.

Just take what we need for the journey, okay?

[Avianius] Alright, Mother.

[Claudia] Okay, got everything?

[Avianius] Yeah.

[Claudia] Okay. Come. Here.

[Tom] But escape isn't gonna be easy.

Temperatures are still rising.

[rumbling]

Rocks are raining down in the darkness,

blocking exits out of the city.

[coughing]

[explosion]

And the air is so full of ash and gas,

it's like being inside a burning black sandstorm.

They wouldn't have been able to see

more than a few feet in front of them.

[rumbling]

[coughing]

[Claudia] Are you okay? Come here. Come here.

Here, Avi. Hold this. Hold this over your mouth.

Breathe. Breathe.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Avi, don't look. Stay with me.

[explosion]

[Tom] This is the tipping point for human survival.

But by now, Julia's household will be packed up.

At last, she's ready to leave.

[Julia] Is everything ready?

[Amalthea] Everything is packed.

[Julia] Do you have water? Enough blankets for the guests?

[Amalthea] Of course.

[Julia] Cassius?

[Amalthea] Already complaining of blisters.

[Julia] Mm-hmm.

[explosion]

Then we are ready to leave.

♪ ♪

[Amalthea] Come on.

We have to leave!

Head to the city gate.

This way!

♪ ♪

Come on. Mind your step. Come on.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[Amalthea] Julia!

[Tom] So she lost everything, but she found a way to escape.

I knew Julia would find a way.

[Caitie Barrett] Well, I'm afraid I might have to

correct you again on that one, Tom.

[Tom] Oh, dear.

Please tell me there was an evacuation.

[Caitie] So that is consistent

with how few human remains they found.

[Tom] Okay.

[Caitie] But also, I think there's something here

you're gonna really want to see.

[Tom] Wow.

That's Julia's shrine to the goddess Isis.

[Caitie] That's right.

So, remember in the garden, I showed you where it used to be.

Obviously, it's on its side at the moment

because it's undergoing restoration.

[Tom] It seems large for a shrine

you'd have in your home, no?

[Caitie] It's actually one of the largest domestic shrines

excavated at Pompeii.

[Tom] Wow.

[Caitie] But when they excavated the shrine in 1952,

they found a body.

[Tom] You think it's Julia?

[Caitie] We don't really know.

The physical remains actually no longer survive.

Archaeology has changed a lot since those days.

But the excavators describe the remains as an adult woman

wearing very expensive jewelry.

It was found right near this shrine.

[Tom] If that body was Julia's,

what was she doing at the shrine?

[sigh]

What did I get wrong?

She's smart. She's a leader.

People listen to her.

We know the horses and carts were gone from the household.

She's organized an evacuation.

She stays.

It doesn't make any sense.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[bell rings]

Let's try that again, shall we?

[rewinding]

[rewinding]

[distant screaming]

[sobbing]

[sobbing]

[Julia] Isis. Isis, hear me.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Is everything ready?

[Amalthea] Everything is packed.

[Julia] Then we are ready to leave.

I have one final thing to do.

Follow.

[Tom] But I don't understand, Caitie, if that body was hers,

why does she stay?

[Caitie] Well, one possible reason could be

right here in front of us.

[Tom] What, Isis?

[Caitie] Romans had many, many gods,

including a lot that originally came from other cultures

like Egypt, in this case.

And individuals could pick and choose which ones

they wanted to be most devoted to.

Isis was a cosmic creator.

She could embody all of the gods in one,

and she was also a mother figure.

So she's a protector, she could keep people safe.

She's certainly a god you might want to have on your side

during a natural disaster.

Also, when the shrine was found, it was all set up for worship.

There were sacred objects, offerings.

If people were taking other valuables from the estate,

it is striking these were left in place.

[Tom] There was someone praying here during the eruption.

[Julia] Give me your hands.

[Tom] I don't know, it just feels so fatalistic

for Julia not to leave.

[Julia] Come to me, Isis.

Hear me, lady of the flame.

Mother. Protector.

I revere you.

I beg your favor and beseech you.

Come to me, Isis.

[Caitie] Could be the opposite of fatalistic.

[Tom] How?

[Caitie] The Romans had a really active approach to religion.

They believed you could appeal to the gods directly.

You could use offerings, prayers.

We might imagine her feeling like she needed to intercede

with a divine protector to save her household.

[Tom] I see.

So by appealing to Isis, because she believes

that she can provide her household

and the people she loves with safe passage.

[Caitie] That's certainly a story that we can imagine.

She's got a responsibility to protect people,

and there weren't any other eruption victims found

in domestic parts of the estate, so maybe it worked.

Who can say?

[Amalthea] You aren't coming?

[Julia] You know I cannot.

[Amalthea] Please. You must come.

[Julia] Amalthea, you've always put your faith in me, hmm?

Do so one more time, please.

No, don't cry. Don't cry.

[Amalthea] Please!

[Julia] Ah. Shh.

[Amalthea] I can't.

[Julia] Oh, look.

The clasp's come loose again.

Can you fix it for me?

[Caitie] This was found with the body in the garden.

[Tom] It's like being in her presence.

[Caitie] Such a personal object was there,

touching this real person's skin.

[Julia] Thank you.

[Caitie] The crescent moon, there, it's an amulet.

Represents protection, for women and girls especially.

[Julia] Keep this with you. You'll need it. Mmm?

[Amalthea] Thank you.

[Julia] Now go, or Cassius will drink all my wine.

[Amalthea] I'll make sure he gets the bill.

[Julia] Go. Go, darling. Go.

[Tom] I think I finally get it now.

She was doing everything she could for them,

so of course she stays.

She was always gonna stay.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[Julia] Hear me, Isis, lady of the flame.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[Amalthea] Come on. Come on.

We need to leave, and we need to leave quickly.

You'll be alright.

[Julia] Guide them and save them from the monster.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[Amalthea] Come on. Come on. Come on. We're nearly there.

Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on.

[Townsperson] I can see the gate!

[Tom] If you look at the world through Julia's eyes,

understand it the way that she did,

her decision makes total sense.

The final act of a woman who defied all conventions,

lived her life on her terms.

The final act of someone who history tells us

should be impossible.

The final act of impossible Julia.

[rumbling]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[Claudia] Okay. Here.

Careful, careful.

Okay, step, step, step.

[Tom] These are literally Pompeii's final minutes now,

in this total darkness.

All the records,

all archaeological evidence, vanishes.

[Claudia] Okay, I've got you, I've got you.

[Tom] The people of Pompeii completely fade from history.

It's like a fog that we can't see through.

[Claudia] Ah.

Ah.

Eh.

Avi, I'm sorry, I, I think we took a wrong--

I don't know where we are.

[Avianius] It's down there, Mum.

[Claudia] Are you sure?

[Avianius] Yeah. It's that way.

Granddad built half the roads in this city, remember?

[Claudia] Oh, I love you so much, my Avi.

Lead the way.

[Avianius] Come on.

[Tom] Avianius completely fades from history, too.

It's like a light that goes out.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[typing]

[Steven] Hmm, that's it.

[printer whirring]

[Tom] Steven?

[Steven] Tom, is that you?

I found it.

[Tom] What? What, what, what have you found?

[Steven] The missing piece of the puzzle.

Evidence that tells us the end of Avianius' story.

[Tom] So, what happened?

[Steven] It's all there in that very short inscription.

[Tom] Okay.

Uh, dis manibus.

Is that right?

[Steven] Mm-hmm.

[Tom] Dis manibus.

To the spirits of the dead.

[Steven] Mm-hmm.

[Tom] This is a gravestone.

[Steven] It is.

[Tom] Avianius' gravestone.

[Steven] But it's from long after the eruption

and from a completely different community.

[Tom] I don't follow.

[Steven] It means he got out.

It means he escaped Pompeii.

[Tom] Avianius survives?

[Steven] Yes.

[Tom] We did it.

We found a real survivor.

Ha!

This is a story of survival, after all.

It's a story of Avianius' survival.

Avianius Felicioni. Felicioni.

That's the first time we've seen his full name.

[Steven] It is, but there's more on there as well.

[Tom] Okay.

Alumno carrisimo masyri fecerunt.

So, to carissimo, is "dearest," right?

Dearest Avianius.

Uh, alumno.

Alumno.

Um, alumno is "student," right?

[Steven] Or...

[Tom] No.

The inscription reveals that Avianius was orphaned.

That's the secondary meaning of alumno.

He survives, but his mum does not.

That's all it says.

And we don't know what happened to her.

Maybe there are some stories that are just too hard to tell.

Some things you just can't even imagine.

Like a child losing their mother.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[Avianius] Please, please, please, please,

please, please, please.

[Tom] To lose the person who heard your first words.

The person who picked you up when you fell.

The person who is always there...

...who knows you better than you know yourself.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

And he's alone.

Completely and utterly alone.

Maybe imagination, like history, just runs out.

[clock ticking]

[watch beeping]

[watch beeping]

[Tom] That's it.

Their time's up.

Pompeii's last day is over.

The eruption column finally collapses, and Pompeii is hit

by wave after wave of pyroclastic surge.

All that life is extinguished.

The town is buried, along with its people.

Their stories sealed in ash for millennia.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[clock ticking]

[clock ticking]

[Tom] When I started this project,

I had the idea that it was noble

not to show the tragic plaster casts of the bodies

from the people of Pompeii,

people frozen in their final moments.

They're known all over the world,

and I worry that we have become desensitized to them.

Desensitized to their lives,

to the real people and their real suffering.

But the only way you become desensitized

is if you don't engage with their stories.

By tracing Julia and by tracing the Praetorian and Avianius,

we're engaged now, these aren't just plaster casts,

they are people and these are their stories.

And these people, they lived, they loved.

They had families, they had homes.

They had people who cared about them and in the aftermath,

who, who searched for them, and when they couldn't find them,

would have grieved for them.

At the beginning of this project,

I set out to tell the story of Pompeii that we don't know.

Somehow, maybe stories of survival.

Avianius might have made it out of the city alive.

He might have survived physically.

But what does it mean to survive

if you lose everything in the process?

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[Sarita] You know, I think survival is not just about

staying alive, and it's certainly not about forgetting

or trying to erase the past,

it's about continuing to live, to choose to live and to grow.

And it's when trauma and growth can coexist in the same space

that's going to allow for a way forward.

Psychologists will talk about post-traumatic injury,

but there is this related phenomena

called post-traumatic growth,

and that's what can lead to a future.

[Tom] Hang on, is that a real thing, post-traumatic growth?

[Sarita] Yeah, it's experienced by some people

when they've been through a traumatic event, like Pompeii.

People try to find meaning from what's happened to them,

and that can lead to a deeper sense of appreciation of life,

a new purpose.

[Tom] Maybe Avianius can feel that.

[Sarita] I think we do have reason to be hopeful for him.

♪ ♪

Trauma is always going to be part of his story,

but it's not gonna be all of it.

[Tom] Hmm. Thank you, Sarita.

I think I'm learning that there's more

to disaster psychology than just fire alarms and the amygdala.

[Sarita] You know, I've never really been that keen

on the term disaster psychologist, though.

[Tom] Oh.

[Sarita] I'd much rather be known

as a survival psychologist.

[Tom] I'm pretty sure I can help you with that.

[rewinding]

[Sarita] Aw, thanks.

[Tom] That's okay. That's the least I could do.

[Sarita] Ah, guess I'm a survival psychologist now.

Thanks.

[Tom] Just promise to not set off any more fire alarms.

[Steven] You know, I think what people never consider

about Pompeii is the immediate aftermath of the eruption.

[Patient] Ah!

[sobbing]

Avianius is just one of so many stories

of people that made it out.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

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There could be thousands, maybe tens of thousands of evacuees

from Pompeii, Herculaneum, and the other affected communities.

[Tom] Mmm.

[Steven] All displaced.

All of them homeless. All desperate.

[Amalthea] We can rest here.

[Tom] God, I never thought about,

I never thought about it like that.

It's, um, it's so resonant,

it's such a contemporary image as well.

[Amalthea] Can you go and get some water?

[Evacuee] Yes.

[Amalthea] Thank you.

[Tom] The aftermath of Vesuvius, in fact,

would have been a full-blown humanitarian crisis.

♪ ♪

And there would have been temporary camps,

there would have been lines for food, separated families.

Whole communities of people fragmented and lost forever.

[Steven] Wait. Not lost forever, Pompeii wasn't lost.

[Tom] Steven, Pompeii was lost.

It was buried in tons and tons of ash and pumice

and waves of pyroclastic surge.

Vesuvius has obliterated it.

[Steven] That's fair. The city of Pompeii is buried,

but a city is not just its buildings,

it's not just its mosaics or frescoes, it's its community.

The people escaped and they rebuilt their lives,

and they prospered, they fell in love, they started families.

Pompeii survived because its community, its people survived.

[Tom] Pompeii isn't a place, it's a people.

[Steven] Exactly.

And I've even been able to trace patterns

of post-eruption resettlement all across the Bay of Naples,

communities and entire families.

They relocated, rebuilt their lives,

and they kept their faith, too.

There's even evidence for new temples to Isis,

built in the years following the eruption.

[Tom] I suppose as devastating as these disasters can be,

they're also opportunities for humanity to shine.

[Steven] I think they are. They are indeed.

But let's take another look at this inscription.

I don't think you gave enough attention to that word, alumno.

[Tom] What?

[Aurelia] Can we stop?

[Marcus] Oh, okay. We'll stop.

[Aurelia] Yeah. Yeah.

[Marcus] We can stop.

[Aurelia] Uh-huh.

[Tom] Um, alumno means "orphan," right?

[Steven] Oh, you should brush up on your Latin, Hiddleston.

Um, it has another meaning as well.

Instead of orphan, try reading it as "foster."

[Tom] To the spirits of the dead,

the Masuri made this for Avianius Felicioni.

Their dearest...

...foster son.

That's what happened?

The Masuri.

[Aurelia] Avi. Avi!

[Tom] The bronzesmith family.

[Aurelia] Marcus, it's Avi!

[Tom] They adopt Avianius.

[Steven] That's how I read it. Yeah.

[Aurelia] Avi!

Avi!

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[sobbing]

Oh, Avi!

[Marcus] Alright, alright. We've got you. We've got you.

You found us.

[Tom] They've got him.

History gives us facts-- names, dates, places--

and while all of this evidence is critical,

it'll never give us the full picture.

How people felt. How people lived. How people loved.

And that's another kind of truth.

It's the truth that comes from empathy

and imagination and storytelling.

[bell rings]

I hope that by combining these two things,

evidence and empathy,

history and story,

I hope I found a fuller truth.

I know I found the people of Pompeii,

and I hope I've told their historia.

[knock on door]

Yep?

[David] Tom, they're ready for you on set.

[Tom] Great. Thank you, David. I'll be right there.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

So, why do any of this? Why try to understand?

[Actor] I'll see you at the wrap party.

[Tom] I'll see you there.

Connect with the people of the past?

We've come all this way, gone to all this effort.

Hey, Dario. Hi.

And why use storytelling to travel in time?

[Crew member] Okay, right. So, uh...

[Tom] I think that we tell stories about the past

to understand something about our present.

It becomes a lens through which we can examine who we are, now,

and maybe by listening to our ancestors...

[Director] Okay, come on, quiet on set now.

[Tom] ...empathizing with them, understanding them,

we learn something about ourselves

and perhaps even our future, so.

[Director] I said quiet on set.

[bell rings]

And action.

[Marcus] So what we do now, in this moment,

forges what this bronze will become.

[Avianius] Whoa! That's deep.

We should put that on the sign outside.

Marcus Masurius. Forging the future.

[Marcus] Alright.

[Avianius] No, seriously.

Future generations will want to know.

[Marcus] Alright. Very clever.

I'm sorry, sorry, uh, I've forgotten.

What's my line?

[Director] Cut! It's alright, don't worry.

[bell rings]

Hold on. Let's get going again.

[Marcus] Sorry. Sorry, everyone.

[Director] Let's go again.

[muffled voices]

[Crew member] 242 take 58.

[Tom] Let's try that again, shall we?

[bell rings]

♪ ♪

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Well, thank you, Steven.

[Steven] You know, there's hope for you yet, young Hiddleston.

If this whole acting thing doesn't work out,

there's always room in the Pompeii Survivors' Project

for somebody fluent in Latin.

[Tom] Well, fortaus fortuna uvet.

[laughing]