Krakatoa: The Last Days

A fact-based account of the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa in the Sunda Strait near Java, an Indonesian island. The eruption and its effects (including tsunamis and a super-hot ash cloud) took over 36,000 lives. The story follows several characters throughout the ordeal, including a Dutch official, his family, and his native clerk; a ship captain, his passengers and crew; a lighthouse keeper and his family; and a Dutch scientist in Indonesia to study the regions volcanoes. Included are narrations from diaries and journals of the survivors. The special effects are pretty good for a film of its kind, and unlike most made-for-TV fare, this docudrama actually has some good acting.

I've just watched the American release of this movie ("Krakatoa: Volcano of Destruction") on the Discovery Channel. Another reviewer commented on the visuals. I agree with him. All the scenes of the volcano, eruptions, ash, fire, pyroclastic clouds and tidal waves looked very convincing. In fact, I really found myself wondering how they did it. The stories chosen to dramatize this historical event, of real people who lived through the disaster, were well told and interesting. Semi-documentary in style, this TV movie manages to weave in a lot of scientific fact along with the history and drama. I was riveted to my TV. Another well done to BBC.

Although I missed the first half-hour of Krakatoa: The Last Days, I saw the final hour and soon got into it.

It tells the story of the distructuon of Krakatoa blowing its top and the aftermath in its wake. There was massive explosions that could be heard thousands of miles away, tsunamis and a huge cloud of ash from the final explosion.

The lighthouse featured in this gets destroyed by a huge tidal wave and we see how a ship copes on the rough seas. Luckily, all survive.

The special effects in this are fantastic, especially the scenes where Krakatoa is erupting.

Well done to the BBC for bringing us this.

For another version of this disaster, I recommend 1969's Krakatoa, East of Java with Maximilian Schell and Diane Baker.

I'm Indonesian, this poor movie i ever watch. Foreign language part is not "Bahasa Indonesia" but "melayu" (malaysian) "javanese" people speaking "melayu" very strange dialect. The people around Krakatau's must be Sundanese not Javanese, west Java is Sundanese, very different between Sundanese and Javanese, both language and culture.

See when earthquake happen what the people do?? very funny, no panic there! So i think this movie never make a survey about Indonesia situation and people..

Specially please understand the west Java people, Indonesia culture (note: Indonesia not Malaysia). When we watch this movie I feel strange with my country and culture.

Who says British special effects are complete rubbish? To be fair they are generally, but this is one of the better dramas in terms of... well... everything! The effects are pretty good (OK, their not spectacular, but at least the director hasn't put too much emphasis on them), very good acting, but the thing I really like about this is the Soundtrack; perfect for the story! The way to make a good docudrama is to focus on the stories of the people who experienced it, translate these with famous actors, and use an effective backdrop to aid the story, and that's just what Krakatoa: The Last Days has done. Forget all that glossy, expensive Hollywood rubbish; this is how a docudrama should be made! 9/10