The Fire Within: A Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft

Das Vulkanologen-Paar Krafft wurde 1991 bei der Beobachtung des japanischen Vulkans Unzen von einem pyroklastischen Strom, einem Gebräu aus Asche, Hitze und Geschwindigkeit, verschlungen. Es ist unschwer zu erkennen, was Herzog an der Arbeit der beiden angezogen hat: die Bereitschaft, beträchtliche Risiken einzugehen, um erstaunliches Bildmaterial zu schaffen. Das Motiv für THE FIRE WITHIN sei, so raunt es mit charakteristischem Timbre im Voiceover, „to celebrate the wonder of their imagery“. Und in der Tat ist, was wahrzunehmen ist, außerordentlich: das Wunder der Schöpfung aus dem Geist der Zerstörung, begleitet von eigenwillig ausgewählter Musik. Herzog’sches Überwältigungskino. (Alexandra Seitz)

In Anwesenheit von Werner Herzog.

It’s into the inferno again for Werner Herzog. Exploring the film archive left behind by famous volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft, the director discovers two filmmakers who might have surpassed even his desire for unspent images. Ever since Herzog visited the island of Saint Vincent, where a volcano was about to explode in the 1970s, he must have felt a kinship with the couple who died tragically in a pyroclastic flow in Japan in 1991. Toward the end of the film, Herzog expresses how he would have loved to have taken part in their expeditions. Luckily for us, he has to make do with the stunning images left behind by those two fire-obsessed lovers. It’s a sort of supercut which transforms the restored sequences shot by the Kraffts, all spitting lava, hovering clouds, shapeshifting fumes and craters of destruction, into an opera of nature. Behind the scientific motivation, Herzog discovers two humanistic filmmakers, soulmates if you will. He calls his film a requiem but instead of mourning the loss of the couple, he celebrates their heritage. Herzog is the man who goes furthest to prove that no matter how far you go, you’ll ultimately arrive at the same place within yourself. (Patrick Holzapfel)

In the presence of Werner Herzog.

Werner Herzog: AGUIRRE, DER ZORN GOTTES (1972), JEDER FÜR SICH UND GOTT GEGEN ALLE (1974), STROSZEK (1976), NOSFERATU: PHANTOM DER NACHT (1978), WOYZECK (1978), FITZCARRALDO (1982), GRIZZLY MAN (2005), THE WILD BLUE YONDER (2005), ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD ((2007), MY SON, MY SON, WHAT HAVE YE DONE (2009), BAD LIEUTNANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS (2009), CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS (2010), INTO THE ABYSS (2011), ON DEATH ROW (2012, TV-SERIE), KÖNIGIN DER WÜSTE (2015), MEETING GORBACHEV (2018)