The Fire Within: Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft

Volcanos are a source of great fascination for Werner Herzog. In 1977, "La Soufrière" was made shortly before a possible volcanic eruption, and he shot Into the Inferno in 2016, which also used film footage by French volcanologist couple Katia and Maurice Krafft. Now he has dedicated a requiem to the two of them. Herzog was able to draw on 250 hours of footage, “material of incredible power and beauty”, as he says. The film is indeed a requiem, a look at life in the face of death. Herzog observes how the two researchers morphed into artists. Their footage, shot closer and closer to volcanoes, achieves ever greater degrees of abstraction. (Kristina Jaspers)