Director: Werner Herzog
Year Released: 2016
Rating: 3.0
The German auteur travels with Cambridge Professor of Volcanology Clive Oppenheimer to find some of the biggest and deadliest volcanoes in the world ... naturally, this also gives Mr. Herzog permission to meditate on mythology, death, strange thinking and show his audience some phenomenal shots of nature (by frequent collaborator Peter Zeitlinger). This isn't the first time he's shown an interest in this very subject - he made La Soufrière in the late 70's - and he can get a little unfocused at times (his segment on North Korea is as Herzogian as it gets ... but it should have been its own feature) though no one finds the eccentrics like he can, especially an over-enthusiastic UCLA professor in Africa and a man who claims he communicated with an American soldier (?) ... in magma (??). Might be too familiar for the director's fans - I include myself in this group - though almost everyone should be able to find moments/images to cherish. Herzog possesses one of the great voices of our time ... and he's become the enlightened narrator of our cinematic dreams, the preeminent natural supernaturalist (per Carlyle).
