Directed by Ric Burns and written by Riccardo Bruscagli and Ric Burns, this groundbreaking two-part, four-hour film, presents the extraordinary power, beauty and drama of Dante’s great masterwork, The Divine Comedy, set within the riveting circumstances of the poet’s own life, and of the turbulent times he lived in.
Part One: The Inferno explores the historical background of medieval Florence from 1216 to Dante's birth in 1265, and recounts the dramatic details of Dante’s childhood, education and early literary and political career, culminating in his exile in 1302, and his decision to begin The Divine Comedy in 1306 – plunging with Dante and his readers into the underworld itself where, guided by the great Roman poet, Virgil, he will meet a vast cohort of historical and mythological figures – arriving finally at the very bottom of hell, in their encounter with Lucifer himself.
Part Two: Resurrection examines Dante’s experience in exile, and his completion of the last two parts of the Comedy, shortly before his death in Ravenna in 1321. Interweaving soaring scenes drawn from Purgatory and Paradise, the film goes on to explore the afterlife and literary and cultural fate of Dante’s masterpiece from the time of his death down to today.