The Vesuvians

Offering a host of different visions--a quintet of fairytale visions of Naples by five of the city's most accomplished filmmakers: firstly, "La Stirpe di Iana/Iana's Descendants" concerns a tale of kidnapping and a group of modern-day warrior women on motorcycles, all named after Italian soap-powder brands; "Maruzella" centers on a maudlin, aging transvestite who lives above a porn theater and provides arcane services to 'her' patrons until an encounter with a romantically jaded woman changes her life; "Sofialoren" is a surrealistic tale about a poor fisherman and his beloved squid that turns into a beautiful woman at night; "Il Diavolo nella Bottiglia/The Devil in the Bottle" is a moral tale of covetousness and comeuppance; and finally, "La Salita/The Climb" follows the mayor of Naples as he schleps up Mt. Vesuvias, on the way meeting emblematic figures, and pondering the somewhat muddled mission of 'the left' in the current political climate.