By José Alberto Hermosillo
Dangerously real and transcendental. “Fire of Love” ignites the lover’s passion for Earth Studies 101 enormously.
“Fire of Love” is a complete recompilation of materials related to volcano studies collected deep from the archives of Katia & Maurice Krafft. The French couple discovered their magnetism for each other and volcanoes. Attracted by the powerful energy emanating from the Earth’s interior, they defied nature to fulfill their hunger for knowledge. This Academy Award-nominee documentary can be used to save lives in communities surrounding volcanoes around the globe.
The daredevils of volcanoes are here to enlighten humanity with their amusing discoveries and heart-pounding missions, leaving us with an everlasting legacy.
This eye-opening documentary summarizes hundreds of hours of invaluable footage, original materials, incredible photos, specific samples collected from locations, and millions of questions.
Before 1966, all we knew about volcanoes was generic. The geology classified volcanoes by region, age, and size - until the Kraffts came with their exhaustive research studying every volcano individually.
Since
they met in a coffee shop in Paris, the French couple could not live apart and embarked
on a series of expeditions overseas to study each volcano individually. When
they were children, their parents took them separately to visit the volcanoes in
Italy – they started with the Stromboli.
In 1970, they married. Their honeymoon was in Santorini, the mythical city of Atlantis. They devoted their lives to their volcano studies and decided not to have children.
The newlyweds were the first and probably the only volcanologist couple in the
world, which revolutionized every previous theory about the volcanoes and the tectonic plates.
In the film, once they started their journey, the visuals and environmental sounds blended, complementing everything with “Je Me Sens Vivre,” a romantic French song by Dalida.
Dalida -- Je Me Sens Vivre
They brought down every theory and every myth about volcanoes, even the truths and fragments of history already set in books. As they went more profound when, more questions arose. They traveled to different countries, continents, and Islands, starting with Mt. Edna and the Stromboli in Italy to begin their investigation. They knew that every mystery had to be solved. They lived every new adventure to its fullest.
TV appearances witnessed their studies, and it was an excellent opportunity to
let the world know that studying volcanos must be done individually, not as a
generic classification. Every volcano is a different animal. And they were more
excited to show their findings when the TV became color.
They had their strength - Katia worked on still pictures, printing books, chemistry, soil composition, gases, and physics. Maurice filmed everything on location, including eruptions, keeping the records and archives in order.
Both complemented each
other exceptionally well. The closer they get to the volcanos, the more they see and become volcano runners. Even local people helped them with supplies
and guidance to reach the craters.
Contemplating the devastating landscape surrounding a volcano, Maurice and
Katia stated, “We are not religious; we are scientists, but we have our short
life to return to the ground.” They romanticized their job following their passion for volcanoes and each other. Katia observed 170
volcanos, Maurice 150, 20 less than her.
Maurice prefers an intense and short life to a monotonous, long one. In his existentialist
philosophy, he feels his life is a kamikaze in the beauty of
volcanic things and the strenuous sounds of the volcano explosions.
They developed a new classification theory for volcanos, Red and Grey.
They named Red Volcanoes because of their red magma and moving plates underneath,
and Grey Volcanoes after the grey smoke and ashes. They produce the most fertile
soil for plant and vegetable growth. But these were the more explosive, the monster
volcanos, the killer volcanos such as Mount St. Helens in the US near
Vancouver, Canada.
“Volcanology is a science of observation. The closer they get, the
more they see.” With new gear, they could get closer to the edge. In their
fascination for danger, the unknown is not to be feared, but
something is not torn. When the Krakatoa erupted in Indonesia in 1971, they studied chemistry and water composition, the acidity
that kills every organism surrounding the volcanoes. In 1973, they visited
one of the most active volcanoes in the world. Mt. Nyiragongo in Zaire, now the
Democratic Republic of Congo, to continue the studies of lava and soil
composition.
The signs before a blast are the alteration of minerals, gases, soil temperature, and
tremors that ignite an eruption, but there is no certainty to know when or at what
time. “Going to the site of a volcano eruption is like playing Russian roulette -
you never know when you will be killed,” said Maurice.
In 1985, the volcano Nevado del Ruíz erupted in Colombia, killing around 25,000 people while sleeping. The government ignored those warnings for evacuation, and Katia arrived to testify about the damage. Since then, the Kraffts’ film has been used as educational material to warn the communities close to the volcanos to evacuate and save lives because timing is everything.
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| Independent writer, producer & director Miranda July narrates “Fire of Love.” FestivalinLA ©2011 |
The narration by independent filmmaker Miranda July (“Kajillionaire,” “Me You and Everyone We Know,” “The Future”) is descriptive and evocative.
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| Sara Dosa, director of "Fire of Love." Photo by José Alberto Hermosillo. FestivalinLA ©2023 |
Legendary German filmmaker Werner Herzog worked on a few projects focused on the Kraffts - “The Fire Within” and “Into the Inferno.” Still, nothing compares with the force that “Fire of Love” has through imagery and consistent structure.
The material selected can be compared with the fabric of other Academy Award-winning
music discoveries, “Summer of Soul” or the story of “Amy” on the life of Amy
Winehouse, where the home videos are sticking material for the world to connect with the legendary singer.
What keeps us watching the documentary is the fantastic material and the
lives of those two passionate French investigators who pursue their dreams and
dare, like no one else, to go further. Katia, Maurice, and the Volcanos love
story.
Fire of Love Trailer | National Geographic
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