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SUNDANCE 2022 REVIEW
FIRE OF LOVE
By Danny Munso
Fire of Love shows you its cards right from the start. Early in the film, the narration informs us that Katia and Maurice Krafft – two volcanologists who fell in love, got married and spent nearly 25 years documenting and filming active volcanos – will lose their lives at the hands of these natural behemoths that they dedicated their lives to loving. Yet this isn’t a sad story. Rather it’s a celebration, both of the Krafft’s and even of the volcanos themselves, whose natural beauty can often have deadly consequences.
The film is expertly helmed by San Francisco-based director Sara Dosa but most of the footage was shot by the Krafft’s themselves as Dosa wisely chose not to use modern day interviews and footage to supplement the Krafft’s story. (The notable exceptions to this are some wonderful animated sequences that serve as a nice palate cleanser at occasional periods throughout the film.)
Katia and Maurice left behind over 200 hours of film that was digitized for use in this movie. We’ve become desensitized to the amount of gorgeous, digital images captured of our world in numerous NatGeo and IMAX docs. Yet there’s something about the Krafft’s footage that feels different. Because of the lack of technology available when they were alive, what they shot feels incredibly intimate. Indeed, there are shots in Fire of Love that would not – and probably should not – be attempted by today’s filmmakers. Their shots of flowing lava that we see shift and evolve before our eyes can be both indelibly beautiful, yet shockingly terrifying, often at the same time.
Yet Fire of Love is first and foremost a love story. Though there isn’t any footage that existed of the couple before they got married, Dosa does a wonderful job setting up their relationship, explaining the similar ways they each individually fell in love with volcanos and how that eventually helped bring the two together. (Miranda July’s understated narration wonderfully aids in this as well.) Of course this is also a love story about the Krafft’s and volcanos as well. The three seem so intertwined that Dosa even cleverly gives the mountains we see showcased in the documentary their own opening credits.
All of this makes sure that when the moment of the Krafft’s demise arrives at the hands of Japan’s Mount Unzen, it is immensely hard to swallow, despite being forewarned of their fate. Dosa and her editors Erin Casper and Jocelyne Chaput rise to the moment. The sequence plays out quietly and respectfully. We see the eruption and the immediate impact it has on a rolling camera. We see a final photo of the couple snapped before the event. And we see their urns side by side in Japan, a last respect paid to them by the country where they passed away. It’s one of the most powerful, touching sequences from a documentary in years.
Dosa has made terrific films in the past – her Netflix doc Tricky Dick and the Man in Black and The Last Season immediately come to mind – but Fire of Love is easily her best work to date. She somehow manages to make the story of two individuals she never met feel personal. It’s a love story for the ages.
For more info on Fire of Love, visit its official Sundance page HERE.
DIRECTED BY: Sara Dosa
PRODUCED BY: Dosa, Shane Boris, Ina Fichman
This year the Sundance Film Festival is online – which means you can join in on the fun from anywhere in the world! While some films are sold out – tickets do become available sometimes at the last minute so make sure browse the catalog for a film you’d like to see and check for ticket availability here.
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