February 13, 2016 - 15:42 AMT
Benedict Cumberbatch to narrate “Naples ’44” documentary

Benedict Cumberbatch has been recruited as voice talent to narrate high-profile docu “Naples ’44” by Italian director Francesco Patierno, based on the eponymous diary by British travel writer Norman Lewis about his experience as a British intelligence officer in the southern Italian port city following its liberation from Nazi forces, Variety reports.

Cumberbatch is voicing Lewis who wrote the memoir while he was a sergeant in the Field Security Service of the British Army Intelligence Corps in southern Italy from September 1943 to October 1944. In his widely sold book he recorded the desperate lives of Neapolitan civilians who survived by relying on all types of subterfuges, and also prostitution, thievery, and beliefs in miracles and cures.

Patierno, who is known for gritty drama “Pater Familias” and docu “The War of the Volcanoes” about how Roberto Rossellini left Anna Magnani for Ingrid Bergman, is directing “Naples” using both archive and feature film footage, accompanied by Cumberbatch’s narration.

The docu produced by Naples-based Dazzle Communication and RAI Cinema is being sold at EFM by True Colours, the Italo sales company launched recently by Indigo Film in tandem with Lucky Red and headed by Catia Rossi.