This film deals with the contrasts of the Wilhelminian era in Berlin: the splendor of the monarchy, the economic and intellectual vitality of the up-and-coming imperial capital on the one hand, and the misery of the proletarians in the tenements on the other.
Writes Viola: "Sodium Vapor was recorded over a period of several weeks in the hours between one and five in the morning on the streets of an industrial area in lower Manhattan.
On March 16, 1978, far-left terrorists of the Red Brigades kidnap Aldo Moro, leader of the Christian Democracy, the ruling party in Italy since the end of WWII.