Film Review - The Fire Within: A Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft
Images courtesy of DocPlay.
Katia and Maurice Krafft loved volcanoes, they studied them for decades in order to better know the world as a whole, but also to better prepare against catastrophes caused by their immense destructive power. They were also fascinated by the innate beauty of the volcanic spectacle, a sentiment shared by director Werner Herzog.
This is the second documentary about the famed volcanologists released in 2022, yet they work perfectly in tandem with one another. The Fire Within is an excellent contrast and companion piece to Sara Dosa’s Fire of Love. Dosa’s more highly produced IMAX spectacle composes a comprehensive document of the lives of the Kraffts, their romance and their work. Herzog’s more minimal film cares less about documenting who they were as people and more about what they did as volcano researchers, and furthermore as artists and filmmakers in their own right.
The differences in their approach couldn’t be more emphasised by the narration alone. Miranda July’s wispy, soulful voice poetically portrays the story of the Kraffts in Fire of Love while Herzog himself chronicles their work through gruff, bleak narration that perfectly encapsulates the utter monumental doom that can be caused by volcanoes, and yet his soft-spoken yet haunting voice also lends itself to the more sombre, humanistic moments of The Fire Within.
Herzog is no stranger to the many dangers of the world, nor the wonders of volcanoes. He’s made previous documentaries, notably 1977’s La Soufrière and 2016’s Into the Inferno (in which he even used more Krafft footage). Though Herzog remains a character in his other films, here the focus is entirely on the Kraffts, as he takes us on his personal journey through the archives of their lives.
Herzog beautifully documents the Kraffts in their journey not only as scientists, but as filmmakers. Starting out shooting simple amateur footage about their own scientific studies, which he compares to home movies, and going on to capture some of the most cinematically marvellous footage of volcanic activity, touching on Maurice’s preference for shooting on 16mm film to any other stock, and Katia taking up the role of photographer.
And yet, in documenting their life, Herzog must also go into their death. The title Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft is very appropriate as this film is less of a celebration and more of a eulogy. Herzog frames the story of the Kraffts in their deaths, engulfed in a pyroclastic flow while attempting to capture footage of Mt. Unzen in Japan, their final images etched into this film like an epitaph. And death follows this film thoroughly, not only the Kraffts, but the people affected by volcanoes they couldn’t prepare for, footage of bodies, animals, villages lain to waste by the seismic power of the volcano.
Herzog has created a film that magnifies the sensitive balance of nature, simultaneously terrifying and touching, the parallels of science and art, the juxtaposition of the volcano’s fascinating beauty yet ultimate destructive force, and the deaths and the lives of Katia and Maurice Krafft.
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The Fire Within: A Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft is screening on DocPlay from the 28th of October. For more info, click here.