During the two million years of human existence, two small human beings were born at the same place and at the same time. They love the same thing, and it is this love that brings us humans closer to the earth. Their love is rare in the world, and everyone who has seen it is amazed and weeps for it. Wearing protective suits, they danced weird dances in the crater like aliens.
"Me, Katia and Volcano, it's a love story. For sure, we can't imagine a life (way) other than this."
Stills of "Volcano Love"
The documentary "Fire of Love" is about French volcano scientists Katia Krafft and Maurice Krafft, who died in a volcanic eruption in 1991. Both were killed. Years after the death of the Krafts, a young director Sara Dossa, in order to find the origin of the land, accidentally opened their dusty videos for many years. This film uses one and a half hours to show the couple's 25-year-old love, life-and-death love, and the thrilling volcano exploration story that accompanied them throughout their lives.
Stills of "Volcano Love"
The blood of the earth is slowly flowing in front of your eyes, the lava is rushing like a spring, the rocks are heated by the magma into thick hemp vines, and the land is slowly rising in such a hellish environment...
Most of the footage of the film comes from the video materials taken by Katia and Morris, most of which are digitally transcribed for the first time and have never been disclosed in the past 30 years. After watching about 180 hours of footage shot on 16mm film and 50 hours of other interviews with Katia and Morris, director Sara Dossa wrote a story outline that eventually led to this hit. Table love story.
This visually stunning work premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2022 and won the Best Editing Award in the American Documentary Competition; in April, it was selected as the opening film of the 2022 Swiss Real Film Festival and won the Swiss Nyon Real Film Festival Wide Angle Unit Audience Choice Award; Appeared in the Global Vision Unit of the Beijing International Film Festival in August; In December, it was named one of the 22 best films of 2022 by Rolling Stone magazine.
There are 350 volcano research scholars all over the world, of which 50 specialize in the study of eruptive volcanoes (ash volcanoes). Among them, the life experiences of Katia and Maurice Kraft are particularly eye-catching.
Stills of "Volcano Love"
At the time, Katia was studying geochemistry at the University of Strasbourg with the goal of becoming a volcanologist. Soon, also at the university, Morris began studying geography, a fascination with volcanoes that had haunted him since his parents took him to see the De Stromboli volcano in Italy at the age of seven. Katia and Maurice met in Strasbourg in 1966 and have never been apart.
The couple are obsessed with volcanoes, and their footprints have traveled all over the world, just like volcanoes are not volcanoes, but the back garden of their hearts.
In the camera, they sometimes stepped on the magma and caused the soles of their shoes to catch fire, sometimes grabbed the lava to form small balls, sometimes sat by the magma "Baotu Spring", and sometimes took out a frying pan and fried eggs on the lava. They took pictures of the volcanic hinterland that no one dared to care about, and the magnificent spectacle of the volcanic eruption. Such love and courage are really amazing from the bottom of our hearts!
Stills of "Volcano Love"
Are you really not afraid of death? Why are you so bold?
Morris replied, "Because these are red volcanoes, it is very difficult to be killed by red volcanoes. It is an overflow eruption, just like a river, with valleys and directions. Although the temperature of the magma is as high as 1200 degrees Celsius, as long as You know where it's going and you don't get hurt by it."
Morris is right, the real danger is the ash volcano, that is, the kind that erupts suddenly, is unpredictable, it can cause tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, mudslides, and has claimed countless lives.
Just like this year, the Mount Semeru volcano in eastern Java, Indonesia began to erupt in the early morning of December 4th. The volcanic ash met with rainwater and formed a greater threat of mudslides. , people carrying mattresses to evacuate areas affected by the eruption.
Nature is awesome, but for the couple, it seems that they never know what fear is.
Stills of "Volcano Love"
Seek benevolence and benevolence. They were buried on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu in 1991. It was in the middle of Unzen Volcano. They stood very close to the volcano in order to take a clearer picture. Unexpectedly, the volcano erupted in advance and 43 people including them were killed. Until the last moment of their lives, their bodies were still close together.
"Me and Morris do everything together. We can't work without each other. I love that he's ahead of me because he's twice my weight. I know that wherever he goes, I can go too." Katia said.
Despite their common ambitions, the couple has huge differences: one focuses on details and connections, one focuses on a single grandeur; one prefers still life photography, and the other prefers 24-frame video. As director Sarah Dosa said, this is "a movie about love, and love can be as confusing and full of unknowns as a volcano."
Stills of "Volcano Love"
The couple stayed away from the crowd and stayed away from the city. One of their cars broke down 27 times due to the high temperature, and finally it was smashed. Morris once fell into 140 degrees Fahrenheit (about 66 degrees Celsius) hot water, which immediately scalded a layer Pi, they have suffered a lot, but they never thought of giving up, and even enjoyed it, they will leave their last words before every shoot.
On May 30, 1991, the Morris couple arrived at the foot of Unzen Volcano on this day. The volcano showed signs of a serious eruption, but they set up the machine and chatted happily as before.
"I've seen so many eruptions in 23 years that I don't care if I die tomorrow!" Morris said.
Morris' words came true. The last relics that people searched for were only a camera and a watch.
In fact, the couple have often narrowly escaped death over the past few decades.
Stills of "Volcano Love"
In 1983, the two almost died in an erupted volcano in Indonesia. At that time, they didn't know what would happen next. Katia moved slowly, and Morris was still filming on the shore, completely ignoring the volcano. Well, they were urged to leave, and as soon as they got on board, the whole island exploded. Katia later wrote in her diary, "We will be roasted in 1 second."
In 1986, the St. Augustine Crater was released in a huge eruption, with temperatures reaching well over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit (about 538 degrees Celsius), and lava moving at speeds of up to 400 miles per hour. Just within 100 feet, Morris didn't run away, peacefully leaving it in the set until the film ran out.
In the Philippines, thanks to the Morris couple's educational film about the volcano, the local government paid enough attention to the volcano's warnings, allowing 58,000 people to evacuate in time.
They also told such a small story that there is a small volcano in Indonesia that has just been formed for 52 years. When its previous generation erupted many years ago, it caused a huge tsunami, swallowing more than 30,000 people, and the volcanic ash scattered all over the world. The sunset in 2019 was spectacular, and many artists on the earth have seen and recorded it. A Norwegian artist created a work called "The Scream" in this grand sunset.
Some people have seen this film and commented that falling in love with a volcano is equal to falling in love with loneliness, but Morris once said that they love humans more because they are far away from humans on volcanoes.
Stills of "Volcano Love"
The reason why the documentary "Volcano Love" is highly praised is that we have never watched the magnificent spectacle of a volcanic eruption so closely, and it will make us hold our breath. The romantic declaration has a real picture: With you, I can reach the whole world.
