La Soufrière (1977) - full transcript
Herzog takes a film crew to the island of Guadeloupe when he hears that the volcano on the island is going to erupt. Everyone has left, except for one old man who refuses to leave. Herzog catches the eeriness of an abandoned city, with stop lights cycling over an empty intersection.
[volcano rumbling]
AWAITING
AN INEVITABLE DISASTER
A REPORT
BY WERNER HERZOG
[narrator]The parts of the world.
The earth began to shake
everywhere,
in Northern Italy,
in the Philippines,
worst of all in China
and in Central America.
In August '76,
there were clear indications
that the volcano La Soufrière
on the Caribbean Island of
Guadalupe was about to erupt.
The mountain had emitted
its first signs
in spring that year and
scientists had been flown in.
Things began to take
a dramatic turn
towards end of August.
What was expected
was no ordinary eruption,
but an explosion
of the Hell volcano
with the force of at least
five or six atomic bombs.
Thus, 75,000 inhabitants
were evacuated
from the surroundings
[indistinct]
the whole southern part
of the island.
I was immediately fascinated
when I read in the newspaper
that one single poor peasant
living on the very slopes
of the volcano
had refused to be evacuated.
The very same day I set out
together with my two
cameramen,
Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein
and Ed Lachman.
Next day we were already
in Basse-Terre
on the southern tip
of the island,
a town of 17,000 inhabitants,
which was most threatened.
The place was
completely deserted,
but in their haste
they had forgotten to
switch off the traffic lights.
Telephones were still working
and the air conditioning
and refrigerators
in many houses were still on.
In one house, we even found
a TV set still operating.
This is the police station.
It was entirely abandoned.
It was a comfort for us not
having the law hanging around.
Most of the shops had been
cleared, but in frantic haste.
This is a shoe shop.
The silence was eerie,
just a few doors banging
in the wind and water
dripping.
Animals had taken over
the streets.
We came across donkeys, pigs,
chickens, and especially dogs.
The dogs had gone
without food for days.
There was no more garbage
to scavenge.
They had even stopped barking.
We found many of them starving
and the place stank
of carrion.
It was as spooky
as a science fiction locale.
This is the pier
devoid of ships.
[somber music]
Then, the situation became
very tense during the night.
There was a seismic crisis
marked by 1,400 tremors
and shock waves
within 10 hours.
The mountain seemed
about to explode
and the last of the scientists
had fled in a boat.
It was said that
the catastrophe was inevitable
within the next few hours.
[music continues]
We set up an automatic camera
at a distance of 25 miles
which took these pictures.
[gentle music]
We flew over Basse-Terre
by helicopter.
During the flight,
we got the impression
that these were the last hours
of this town
and the last pictures
ever taken of it.
[music continues]
The sea was full
of dead snakes.
They had crawled down during
the night by the thousands
from the mountain channels
and fled into the sea
where they promptly drowned.
[music continues]
[music continues]
[music continues]
[narrator] The quiet and
deserted atmosphere of the
town
was so intense
that we became fascinated
and eager to take a look at
the source of the silence,
namely at the crater
of the volcano itself.
All along our path,
we came across warning signs.
The greatest danger
came from toxic gases.
[music continues]
That day, the Army roadblocks
around an area
of 30 miles in diameter
had been so tightened
that one could not even
get through
with special permission.
We got around the roadblocks
by sneaking across country
in a car.
Our path took us up
to nearly 4,000 feet.
The volcano itself
is almost 4,500 feet high.
For the first time
we began to get scared.
Suddenly a toxic cloud
of sulfur fumes
ringing the mountain descended
and it was all we could do
to turn our car around
on the narrow path.
We hastily retreated a bit
and waited.
[music continues]
A few hours later
things looked better
because the wind turned.
We decided to carry on.
[volcano rumbling softly]
[narrator] We followed
the electric cables
that led to the seismographs
of the geologists.
They had been set up right
on the edge of the crater.
The ground was hot
and rather unsteady.
At the top,
there were bottomless fissures
from which hot sulfur fumes
were pouring.
We could approach from leeward
and take pictures.
The mountain had split
300 feet in length.
[rumbling continues]
Actually, we were able
to film without anxiety
for several hours,
but as we turned back,
our cameraman, Ed Lachman,
discovered he had left
his spectacles behind.
We decided to pick them up
the next day
if the mountain still existed
by then.
The people of Guadalupe
perhaps were so aware
of danger
because in 1902
there had been a catastrophe
in the neighboring island
of Martinique.
[soft somber music]
This is a photo
of the town of Saint-Pierre
in Martinique taken in 1901.
There were 32,000 people
living in Saint-Pierre.
The town was the
administrative
and cultural center
of the whole island.
There was even a horse-drawn
tram and an opera house.
The town, like Basse-Terre,
lay at the foot of a volcano,
Montagne Pelée.
Basically, the warnings
emitted by the volcano
were identical
to those of La Soufrière.
The population
intended to flee,
but since there was
an election
which had already been
postponed for other reasons,
the governor persuaded
the people to stay.
Only a few hundred
left the town.
All others remained.
[music continues]
This is a photo
taken on May sixth, 1902,
two days before
the catastrophe.
And this is the last picture
taken before the catastrophe.
The population
had grown restless.
Some of them gathered
on the beach,
still thinking of fleeing.
[music continues]
Then the next day, this here,
it is an actual photo,
not a painting.
A dead cow in the water,
and to the right
in the background,
hard to make out
the half-sunken wreck of
the Canadian ship Roraima.
It had tied up
to take on refugees.
It sank with all hands
and not one soul survived.
[music continues]
In the town
there was practically
not a single stone
left standing.
All was silence.
The horrified rescue teams
found not a living soul.
The people had been charred
to a cinder.
30,000 dead in all.
What had happened?
There had been
no usual outbreak of lava.
The mountain had spouted
a cloud of gas
in an explosion
of searing flame.
The whole thing could only
have taken seconds.
[music continues]
This is a meal of spaghetti,
burnt to a cinder on a plate.
And here is a loaf of bread,
turned into black coal.
And then they found
one survivor. Just one.
It was a young thief,
Sylbaris,
who was in prison.
The miracle of his survival
is that he only survived
because he was
the baddest guy in town.
There were about 60 to
70 prisoners besides him,
but he was the only one
that behaved so badly,
continually fighting
with the wardens,
so that as punishment
he was placed
in an underground
solitary confinement.
When the blast
of the heat struck,
he threw himself to the ground
and suffered severe
back burns.
Later he was exhibited
as a sideshow attraction
in an American circus
and lived until 1956.
Here is a photo of Sylbaris
in the hospital
where he suffered
for several weeks.
[somber music]
The hours passed and
the waiting began.
The silence grew ever deeper
and the volcano La Soufrière
shrouded itself in clouds.
Nobody knew whether
the eruption would happen
in the next few minutes
or the next day,
and because
one could not see a thing,
the fear became anonymous.
[music continues]
[music continues]
On that day, we found
the man who had refused
to leave the district
and two others.
We had to wake him up first.
[speaking French]
[narrator]What's going on here?
You have refused to leave
the district, haven't you?
[speaking French]
[narrator] Yes, I am here
because it's God's will.
I'm waiting for my death
and I wouldn't know
where to go anyway.
I haven't a cent. I am poor.
You are waiting for death?
[speaking French]
Yes, and no one knows
when it will come.
It is as God has commanded.
He will not only take me to
his bosom, but everyone else.
Like life, death is forever.
I haven't the slightest fear.
[speaking French]
[narrator]Yes, because it's God's will
and no one can tell
when death will come.
Are you afraid?
Not one bit.
Why not?
[speaking French]
God takes everyone
to his bosom,
not just one, not just me.
He has ordained this for us.
Why don't you move out?
[speaking French]
[narrator] Where should I go?
Death waits forever.
It is eternal.
I am not afraid of dying.
[speaking French]
[narrator] Aren't you afraid?
[speaking French]
[narrator] No, there is
not a thing you can do.
Tell me about the volcano,
La Soufrière.
[speaking French]
[narrator] Yeah, the volcano,
it's always up there above us.
[interviewer speaking French]
[narrator] But the situation
is very dangerous, isn't it?
[speaking French]
[narrator] Sure it is,
of course it's dangerous,
but I'm staying here.
What difference does it make?
[man and interviewer
speaking French]
[narrator] You know,
it's really very dangerous
around here.
You're sitting on a
powder keg.
Yeah, oui. Oui, oui.
Oui, oui. [speaking French]
[narrator] Sure we are,
but so are all of us
and it's God's will.
[speaking French]
[narrator] That's
what God said
and I'm not
the slightest bit worried.
Not one bit.
[speaking French]
[narrator] Why should I leave?
I would only have
to come back.
Where could I go?
Tell me something
about your life.
[speaking French]
[narrator]I'm at peace with myself,
with what's inside me.
[speaking French]
[narrator] I have nothing,
nothing at all,
and I'm waiting for death.
[speaking French]
[narrator] You see,
this is how I am waiting.
[speaking French]
[narrator] I'm waiting for
a typhoon, too,
that has been predicted.
But I've lived through
so many typhoons.
They always
report them beforehand.
[speaking French]
[narrator] Typhoons come along
in August and September.
I've seen quite a few
in my time.
[speaking French]
[narrator] You're still young.
You have never
lived through one.
[interviewer speaking French]
What have you got to lose?
Ah.
[singing in French]
[singing in French]
[speaking French]
[speaking French]
[narrator]I am not afraid of death.
Here I am and I look after
the animals all the time.
They have left
the cattle behind,
so I'm looking after them.
I'm saving them.
[speaking French]
And if it gets much worse,
if things get real bad,
maybe I'll clear out today.
I'd like to go and see
my children again.
They're in Pointe-à-Pitre.
I'd like to see them again,
but I'm not afraid of dying.
We all have to die someday.
I'm 55 now and
I'm not scared anymore.
We all have to die,
just like that.
[speaking French]
[narrator] I have 15 children.
One, two, three, 15 children.
[speaking French]
[narrator] They have left.
They went to Pointe-à-Pitre.
I sent them there.
Where is La Soufrière,
actually?
Where is the volcano?
Could you point it out?
We can't see it.
Yes, back there. Up there.
Explain the situation to me.
[man speaking French]
[narrator] But I haven't got
any instruments.
I'm no specialist.
I'm all on my own.
There's nobody else left.
It's pretty bad here.
[speaking French]
[narrator] Are you scared?
No, I'm not scared.
Why not?
Why should I be?
[man and interviewer
speaking French]
[narrator] We all have to die
one day and now I'm here.
[speaking French]
[narrator]I'm here and I'm poor.
I only have myself
to look after.
I could leave here.
Everyone has fled.
[interviewer speaking French]
[speaking French]
[narrator] I'm not afraid of
a single thing.
You can take me with you to
Pointe-à-Pitre if you like,
but I could also walk
to La Soufrière.
You see, I can get up
to my house that way,
but if you'll take me to
Pointe-à-Pitre with you,
I'll go along.
[low music]
[narrator]The volcano did not explode.
Days came and went.
The signs of a catastrophe
began to diminish.
After some weeks,
the population
began drifting back
to their homes
in villages and towns.
It will always remain a
mystery why there was
no eruption.
Never before in the history
of volcanology
were signals
of such magnitude measured
and yet nothing happened.
[dramatic orchestral music]
The volcano will probably
soon be forgotten.
In my memory, it is not
the volcano that remains,
but the neglect and oblivion
in which
those black people live.
[somber music]
[dramatic music]
There was something pathetic
for us
in the shooting
of this picture,
and therefore it ended
a little bit embarrassing.
Now, it has become a report
on an inevitable catastrophe
that did not take place.
[dramatic music]
[gentle music]
AWAITING
AN INEVITABLE DISASTER
A REPORT
BY WERNER HERZOG
[narrator]The parts of the world.
The earth began to shake
everywhere,
in Northern Italy,
in the Philippines,
worst of all in China
and in Central America.
In August '76,
there were clear indications
that the volcano La Soufrière
on the Caribbean Island of
Guadalupe was about to erupt.
The mountain had emitted
its first signs
in spring that year and
scientists had been flown in.
Things began to take
a dramatic turn
towards end of August.
What was expected
was no ordinary eruption,
but an explosion
of the Hell volcano
with the force of at least
five or six atomic bombs.
Thus, 75,000 inhabitants
were evacuated
from the surroundings
[indistinct]
the whole southern part
of the island.
I was immediately fascinated
when I read in the newspaper
that one single poor peasant
living on the very slopes
of the volcano
had refused to be evacuated.
The very same day I set out
together with my two
cameramen,
Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein
and Ed Lachman.
Next day we were already
in Basse-Terre
on the southern tip
of the island,
a town of 17,000 inhabitants,
which was most threatened.
The place was
completely deserted,
but in their haste
they had forgotten to
switch off the traffic lights.
Telephones were still working
and the air conditioning
and refrigerators
in many houses were still on.
In one house, we even found
a TV set still operating.
This is the police station.
It was entirely abandoned.
It was a comfort for us not
having the law hanging around.
Most of the shops had been
cleared, but in frantic haste.
This is a shoe shop.
The silence was eerie,
just a few doors banging
in the wind and water
dripping.
Animals had taken over
the streets.
We came across donkeys, pigs,
chickens, and especially dogs.
The dogs had gone
without food for days.
There was no more garbage
to scavenge.
They had even stopped barking.
We found many of them starving
and the place stank
of carrion.
It was as spooky
as a science fiction locale.
This is the pier
devoid of ships.
[somber music]
Then, the situation became
very tense during the night.
There was a seismic crisis
marked by 1,400 tremors
and shock waves
within 10 hours.
The mountain seemed
about to explode
and the last of the scientists
had fled in a boat.
It was said that
the catastrophe was inevitable
within the next few hours.
[music continues]
We set up an automatic camera
at a distance of 25 miles
which took these pictures.
[gentle music]
We flew over Basse-Terre
by helicopter.
During the flight,
we got the impression
that these were the last hours
of this town
and the last pictures
ever taken of it.
[music continues]
The sea was full
of dead snakes.
They had crawled down during
the night by the thousands
from the mountain channels
and fled into the sea
where they promptly drowned.
[music continues]
[music continues]
[music continues]
[narrator] The quiet and
deserted atmosphere of the
town
was so intense
that we became fascinated
and eager to take a look at
the source of the silence,
namely at the crater
of the volcano itself.
All along our path,
we came across warning signs.
The greatest danger
came from toxic gases.
[music continues]
That day, the Army roadblocks
around an area
of 30 miles in diameter
had been so tightened
that one could not even
get through
with special permission.
We got around the roadblocks
by sneaking across country
in a car.
Our path took us up
to nearly 4,000 feet.
The volcano itself
is almost 4,500 feet high.
For the first time
we began to get scared.
Suddenly a toxic cloud
of sulfur fumes
ringing the mountain descended
and it was all we could do
to turn our car around
on the narrow path.
We hastily retreated a bit
and waited.
[music continues]
A few hours later
things looked better
because the wind turned.
We decided to carry on.
[volcano rumbling softly]
[narrator] We followed
the electric cables
that led to the seismographs
of the geologists.
They had been set up right
on the edge of the crater.
The ground was hot
and rather unsteady.
At the top,
there were bottomless fissures
from which hot sulfur fumes
were pouring.
We could approach from leeward
and take pictures.
The mountain had split
300 feet in length.
[rumbling continues]
Actually, we were able
to film without anxiety
for several hours,
but as we turned back,
our cameraman, Ed Lachman,
discovered he had left
his spectacles behind.
We decided to pick them up
the next day
if the mountain still existed
by then.
The people of Guadalupe
perhaps were so aware
of danger
because in 1902
there had been a catastrophe
in the neighboring island
of Martinique.
[soft somber music]
This is a photo
of the town of Saint-Pierre
in Martinique taken in 1901.
There were 32,000 people
living in Saint-Pierre.
The town was the
administrative
and cultural center
of the whole island.
There was even a horse-drawn
tram and an opera house.
The town, like Basse-Terre,
lay at the foot of a volcano,
Montagne Pelée.
Basically, the warnings
emitted by the volcano
were identical
to those of La Soufrière.
The population
intended to flee,
but since there was
an election
which had already been
postponed for other reasons,
the governor persuaded
the people to stay.
Only a few hundred
left the town.
All others remained.
[music continues]
This is a photo
taken on May sixth, 1902,
two days before
the catastrophe.
And this is the last picture
taken before the catastrophe.
The population
had grown restless.
Some of them gathered
on the beach,
still thinking of fleeing.
[music continues]
Then the next day, this here,
it is an actual photo,
not a painting.
A dead cow in the water,
and to the right
in the background,
hard to make out
the half-sunken wreck of
the Canadian ship Roraima.
It had tied up
to take on refugees.
It sank with all hands
and not one soul survived.
[music continues]
In the town
there was practically
not a single stone
left standing.
All was silence.
The horrified rescue teams
found not a living soul.
The people had been charred
to a cinder.
30,000 dead in all.
What had happened?
There had been
no usual outbreak of lava.
The mountain had spouted
a cloud of gas
in an explosion
of searing flame.
The whole thing could only
have taken seconds.
[music continues]
This is a meal of spaghetti,
burnt to a cinder on a plate.
And here is a loaf of bread,
turned into black coal.
And then they found
one survivor. Just one.
It was a young thief,
Sylbaris,
who was in prison.
The miracle of his survival
is that he only survived
because he was
the baddest guy in town.
There were about 60 to
70 prisoners besides him,
but he was the only one
that behaved so badly,
continually fighting
with the wardens,
so that as punishment
he was placed
in an underground
solitary confinement.
When the blast
of the heat struck,
he threw himself to the ground
and suffered severe
back burns.
Later he was exhibited
as a sideshow attraction
in an American circus
and lived until 1956.
Here is a photo of Sylbaris
in the hospital
where he suffered
for several weeks.
[somber music]
The hours passed and
the waiting began.
The silence grew ever deeper
and the volcano La Soufrière
shrouded itself in clouds.
Nobody knew whether
the eruption would happen
in the next few minutes
or the next day,
and because
one could not see a thing,
the fear became anonymous.
[music continues]
[music continues]
On that day, we found
the man who had refused
to leave the district
and two others.
We had to wake him up first.
[speaking French]
[narrator]What's going on here?
You have refused to leave
the district, haven't you?
[speaking French]
[narrator] Yes, I am here
because it's God's will.
I'm waiting for my death
and I wouldn't know
where to go anyway.
I haven't a cent. I am poor.
You are waiting for death?
[speaking French]
Yes, and no one knows
when it will come.
It is as God has commanded.
He will not only take me to
his bosom, but everyone else.
Like life, death is forever.
I haven't the slightest fear.
[speaking French]
[narrator]Yes, because it's God's will
and no one can tell
when death will come.
Are you afraid?
Not one bit.
Why not?
[speaking French]
God takes everyone
to his bosom,
not just one, not just me.
He has ordained this for us.
Why don't you move out?
[speaking French]
[narrator] Where should I go?
Death waits forever.
It is eternal.
I am not afraid of dying.
[speaking French]
[narrator] Aren't you afraid?
[speaking French]
[narrator] No, there is
not a thing you can do.
Tell me about the volcano,
La Soufrière.
[speaking French]
[narrator] Yeah, the volcano,
it's always up there above us.
[interviewer speaking French]
[narrator] But the situation
is very dangerous, isn't it?
[speaking French]
[narrator] Sure it is,
of course it's dangerous,
but I'm staying here.
What difference does it make?
[man and interviewer
speaking French]
[narrator] You know,
it's really very dangerous
around here.
You're sitting on a
powder keg.
Yeah, oui. Oui, oui.
Oui, oui. [speaking French]
[narrator] Sure we are,
but so are all of us
and it's God's will.
[speaking French]
[narrator] That's
what God said
and I'm not
the slightest bit worried.
Not one bit.
[speaking French]
[narrator] Why should I leave?
I would only have
to come back.
Where could I go?
Tell me something
about your life.
[speaking French]
[narrator]I'm at peace with myself,
with what's inside me.
[speaking French]
[narrator] I have nothing,
nothing at all,
and I'm waiting for death.
[speaking French]
[narrator] You see,
this is how I am waiting.
[speaking French]
[narrator] I'm waiting for
a typhoon, too,
that has been predicted.
But I've lived through
so many typhoons.
They always
report them beforehand.
[speaking French]
[narrator] Typhoons come along
in August and September.
I've seen quite a few
in my time.
[speaking French]
[narrator] You're still young.
You have never
lived through one.
[interviewer speaking French]
What have you got to lose?
Ah.
[singing in French]
[singing in French]
[speaking French]
[speaking French]
[narrator]I am not afraid of death.
Here I am and I look after
the animals all the time.
They have left
the cattle behind,
so I'm looking after them.
I'm saving them.
[speaking French]
And if it gets much worse,
if things get real bad,
maybe I'll clear out today.
I'd like to go and see
my children again.
They're in Pointe-à-Pitre.
I'd like to see them again,
but I'm not afraid of dying.
We all have to die someday.
I'm 55 now and
I'm not scared anymore.
We all have to die,
just like that.
[speaking French]
[narrator] I have 15 children.
One, two, three, 15 children.
[speaking French]
[narrator] They have left.
They went to Pointe-à-Pitre.
I sent them there.
Where is La Soufrière,
actually?
Where is the volcano?
Could you point it out?
We can't see it.
Yes, back there. Up there.
Explain the situation to me.
[man speaking French]
[narrator] But I haven't got
any instruments.
I'm no specialist.
I'm all on my own.
There's nobody else left.
It's pretty bad here.
[speaking French]
[narrator] Are you scared?
No, I'm not scared.
Why not?
Why should I be?
[man and interviewer
speaking French]
[narrator] We all have to die
one day and now I'm here.
[speaking French]
[narrator]I'm here and I'm poor.
I only have myself
to look after.
I could leave here.
Everyone has fled.
[interviewer speaking French]
[speaking French]
[narrator] I'm not afraid of
a single thing.
You can take me with you to
Pointe-à-Pitre if you like,
but I could also walk
to La Soufrière.
You see, I can get up
to my house that way,
but if you'll take me to
Pointe-à-Pitre with you,
I'll go along.
[low music]
[narrator]The volcano did not explode.
Days came and went.
The signs of a catastrophe
began to diminish.
After some weeks,
the population
began drifting back
to their homes
in villages and towns.
It will always remain a
mystery why there was
no eruption.
Never before in the history
of volcanology
were signals
of such magnitude measured
and yet nothing happened.
[dramatic orchestral music]
The volcano will probably
soon be forgotten.
In my memory, it is not
the volcano that remains,
but the neglect and oblivion
in which
those black people live.
[somber music]
[dramatic music]
There was something pathetic
for us
in the shooting
of this picture,
and therefore it ended
a little bit embarrassing.
Now, it has become a report
on an inevitable catastrophe
that did not take place.
[dramatic music]
[gentle music]