Werner Herzog and volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer travel the globe and visit active volcanoes in Indonesia, Iceland, North Korea and Ethiopia, in an attempt to minimize the volcanoes’ destructive impact.
Into the Inferno may be relatively minor Herzog -- it's sweet and rambling rather than laser-bolt intense like Fitzcarraldo or Grizzly Man . But it is enormously satisfying, filled with wisdom, insight and molten lava.
Besides the extraordinary images of volcanic landscapes, the film is, thanks to Oppenheimer's skill as an interviewer, a work of comparative anthropology.
Even as "Into the Inferno" invites us to marvel at our insignificance in the face of Mother Nature's seething primordial firepit, Herzog, being Herzog, refuses to lose sight of the human element.
The film captures enough remarkable footage of hot magma bursts and erupting volcanoes to make any straight-up nature documentary filmmaker jealous. But Herzog's interests are cultural. And it's all the more fascinating. as seen through his lens.
It's an exhilarating trip, filled with strange stories, fascinating rituals and ethereally beautiful images of bubbling magma and flowing lava, some of which were captured using drones.
Oppenheimer brings the enthusiasm and the science; and Herzog, his gravelly baritone bringing to mind the voices of volcano gods seeking vengeance, provides the narration.
