La Soufrière - Warten auf eine unausweichliche Katastrophe

Werner Herzog's documentary 'La Soufrière' captures the tense anticipation of an impending volcanic eruption on the island of Guadeloupe, as the filmmaker and his crew risk their lives to document the event. Although the eruption never came, the film remains a fascinating meditation on human mortality and ecological disaster, revealing Herzog's unwavering dedication to capturing the elusive cinematic sublime. While the lack of a violent climax adds an element of self-mockery to the final product, 'La Soufrière' remains a must-watch for film enthusiasts seeking a potent exploration of the intersection between human curiosity and natural danger.

Minor phreatic eruptions of the volcano La Soufriere in 1976 resulted in Basse-Terre,the island's capital city being evacuated as a precaution.Whilst Guadeloupe was almost entirely deserted by its citizens the German filmmaker Werner Herzog traveled to the abandoned town of Basse-Terre to find a peasant who had refused to leave his home on the slopes of the volcano.His journey is recorded "La Soufrière"-eerie and poignant documentary about death and abandonment.The crew of three creatively insane filmmakers treks up to the caldera,where clouds of sulfurous steam and ash emit from within.Pure harbingers of death.Herzog converses with three poor men,who stayed in Basse-Terre:one says he is waiting for death and demonstrates his posture for doing so;another says he has stayed to look after the animals.They are all not afraid of dying.Fortunately paroxysmal eruption never happened,but we have to remember that there is no escape from death and loneliness.8 out of 10.

A 30-minute documentary film by Werner Herzog in which he and a couple of cameramen visit a remote island in Guadelope, where an active volcano threatens to erupt at any second. They discover a deserted township with starving dogs roaming the streets, as well as at least three homeless men who seem consigned to their eventual fates.

It's a great premise and you can instantly see why Herzog was attracted to this story: the images of the deserted town are haunting in the extreme, and nature plays a big part. Unforgettable shots include snakes evacuating the volcano slopes and dead dogs lying rotting in the lonely streets. The human stories which conclude this brief report are even more devastating, a study of loneliness and the acceptance of fate. All of these are themes commonly explored by Herzog, and they're just as intriguing here.

I love Herzog. I love travel movies, and I love documentaries. Anybody who is into "abandoned porn" would love this. The abandoned city seemed like a dream for a zombie film maker back in the day. Now computers could probably do it, but to see a whole city deserted like that, especially with the volcanic smoke in the background, truly was apocalyptic.

The conversations with the people left behind were a little hard to follow, but still interesting. If a guy has nowhere to go, why should he leave? It's his home and, in the end, the volcano didn't interrupt after all. Vindication if there ever was.

Check it out. It's only 30 minutes anyway.

I think Herzog is Great! And I think La Soufriere is REALLY interesting thing to document! But something was Missing! I really wanted him to break into the police station For example explore more streets or spend more times with those who refused to leave! Umm! I am just thinking that he could work on better scripting an plotting with the perfect place and items! Also Music was horribly horrible seriously!.. But I really think i rated it 7 Just because it's soufriere and He is Herzog :). I mean am working on some documentary myself and am not really taking such risks like documenting an active Volcano For Example! but am working about different sort Of Volcanoes include Live Ammunition and Birdshot. anyway, i appreciate his work a lot. but not really this one ..