"Fire of Love" - Film Review
“Parts of Katia and Maurice’s story remain lost to time…as in love, there are mysteries. You fall hard for what you know, harder for what you don’t,” narrator Miranda July says of Maurice and Katia Krafft. These volcanologists from the ’70s and ’80s are the focus of the National Geographic documentary Fire of Love. More than the science of volcanoes, Fire of Love is a reflection of a relationship that burned brightly.
The film exclusively uses footage shot by Katia, Maurice, and their friends that dates back to the 1970s and is more vibrant than the majority of movies shot today. It’s proof of the saturated beauty that can only exist when capturing images on film. Not only is this a testament to the fading art of film, but it speaks to the sheer dearth of images and movies that were shot during their lifetime. It’s easy to understand from these videos what drew Katia and Maurice to their life’s work. To see lava and volcanic explosions in such an intimate way is intoxicating. How can we possibly be concerned with trivial human problems when something as grand as volcanoes exists in this world?
Sandbox Films + Cottage M + Intuitive Pictures + National Geographic Documentary Films
Fire of Love is born out of passion. The film’s narration is romantic, merely a reflection of the awe Maurice and Katia have for volcanoes. It’s a love that can be understood by anyone who loves something unbridled adoration. “Understanding is love’s other name,” July says. Some would call Maurice and Katia obsessed, but that’s simply a small-minded way of looking at their lives. Maurice and Katia earnestly attempted to document, understand, and teach people about the thing they loved so dearly.
Director Sara Dosa has created a triumphant work of documentation. Like Maurice and Katia before her, Dosa educates while entrancing the audience. Her combination of footage and still images is reminiscent of Mike Mills’ signature style. It adds a richness to the film that makes it more than a distillation of Maurice and Katia’s life’s work, for as much as the movie is about volcanoes, it’s also about their relationship and their odd, eccentric personalities. A love letter to what brought them together and a celebration of the years they spent with each other.
Sandbox Films + Cottage M + Intuitive Pictures + National Geographic Documentary Films
Fire of Love lets the audience know upfront that Maurice and Katia died doing what they loved most. It’s tragic to know that their lives were cut short, but there is some solace in knowing that this was an outcome they had prepared themselves for. An acceptance that the brutal, destructive forces of nature that we admire will always be dangerous.
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