With its impressive filmography, Mariangela Palmieri's book provides readers with a historiographical examination of documentary film on the Italian South. Focusing specifically on cortometraggi produced from the immediate postwar period to the second half of the 1960s, Palmieri demonstrates that there was not just one way of representing the South but rather a multitude of contradictory yet always objectifying perspectives. She argues that through the lens of documentary film, a somewhat minor form of cinema, one can most readily see these various ways of representing, intentionally and unintentionally, the South as periphery to the rest of Italy (‘come periferia dell'Italia fuori dalla storia’, p. 7).

Palmieri divides her vast corpus of documentaries (over 210) into five categories (anthropological, denunce, touristic, state-sponsored, and industry-sponsored), acknowledging that many have the tendency to slip between classifications or perform two or more simultaneously. Each chapter begins with a historical introduction to its respective theme, which is then followed by synopses of 30 to 40 corresponding works, their directors, and sometimes contemporary criticism. In Chapter One, Palmieri turns to the Southern Question and anthropology's role in non-fiction cinema. Ernesto De Martino's influence looms large over many of the included films, and a special mention is given to the œuvre of Vittorio De Seta and his unique approach to documentary filmmaking. Chapter Two looks specifically at the legacy of neorealism in Italian documentary and thus the critique of Italian society through film. These cortometraggi tend to openly criticise the political handling of the South in the 1950s, eventually leading to even more damning denunce in the 1960s. The directors Gandin, Ferrara, Carbone, and Micciché appear prominently in this section.

Chapter Three offers a very different image of the South by examining its portrayal in low-budget shorts created by various media production agencies (Phoenix and Panaria Film) that were meant to incentivise tourism. Thanks to the economic boom, travel had just become a viable option for many middle-class Italians. Here, the book centres on representations of Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia (although less so) given their accessibility for travellers and their postcard-ready beaches. Cultural stereotypes and folkloric clichés take centre stage, while the disparity and underdevelopment discussed in the previous two chapters are nowhere to be seen on screen.

Chapter Four transitions to state-sponsored films that promoted governmental projects meant to inaugurate a Southern rinascita cloaked in both Democrazia Cristiana (DC) and Catholic propaganda. Films on housing and infrastructure funded by the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno and INA-Casa sought to depict an ever-closing gap between Italy's North and South as well as (and perhaps more importantly) the South's ahistorical customs as compatible to the wonders of modernity. Chapter Five, focused on industrial documentaries, challenges this dynamic between tradition and innovation by claiming that science and progress were the only means by which the South could pull itself out of its poverty and into the modern world, leaving behind its ritualistic archaism for good. The famous cattedrali nel deserto of oil and steel refineries feature heavily in these documentaries produced by ENI, Montecatini, and Italsider. In the book's epilogue, Palmieri addresses once more each of her five categories, offering deeper criticism and analysis than provided in the previous chapters. In closing, she concludes that the documentaries, despite their contradictory representations of the Mezzogiorno, ultimately reiterate the South's static position within the cultural and geographical periphery of Italy despite the various and diverse attempts by non-fiction cinema to do otherwise.

In his preface to Profondo Sud, Pierre Sorlin lauds Palmieri for her work in bringing together lesser-known films that exist, as Palmieri states, along the periphery of cinema, to discuss the South at and beyond the margins of Italian society. Examining these types of documentaries is by no means a novel idea. Other scholars have addressed one or two of Palmieri's categories in their previous research. However, I agree with Sorlin's praise for the book since it presents a vast array of material in one volume that can interest a similarly diverse range of scholars in Italian film and cultural studies whose work engages with visual representations of the South as well as Italy in the midst of its modernisation. Palmieri provides just enough information for each film or director mentioned to allow readers to quickly identify shorts or filmmakers that are best suited for their individual interests. That being said, the book does not offer an in-depth theoretical analysis of the films, opting for a more general study of the various ways in which documentary filmmaking approached the South in the postwar period. In essence, the book is a thematic exploration of the five types of films identified by Palmieri. Her analysis of documentary conventions and the genre itself primarily comes in the epilogue and is presented in a straightforward manner that reaffirms the South's marginal role in Italian society. This ultimately leaves the door open for more discursive and nuanced readings of the many subgenres and underlying theories that the book introduces to its readers. In this way, Profondo Sud is an excellent reference companion for those looking to delve deeper into the visual culture of Italy from the postwar period to 1970.