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La soufrière
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La soufrière
IDFA 1999

La soufrière

Werner Herzog
Germany
1976
31 min
n.a.
Festival history
When volcanologists predicted that the volcano La Soufrière on Guadeloupe would soon erupt, Herzog rushed to this Caribbean island to film the eruption. The population had already been evacuated and the town of Basse-Terre had changed into a spooky place, where only the traffic lights, switching to red or green, suggested some activity. While the volcano had already begun to emit sulphur fumes, Herzog went to the mountainside and met some stubborn farmers who, like him, refused to leave the island. Today, the ocean is full with thousands of dead snakes that did want to leave. In the end, the eruption fails to occur, no matter how inevitable it had been to the volcanologists. Herzog came back with footage of an apocalyptic landscape, where only a single madman still dares to tread.
Credits
Screening copy
    New Yorker Films
    New Yorker Films