La Soufrière: Waiting for an Inevitable Catastrophe (1977)

Directed by Werner Herzog

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Werner Herzog as Narrator (voice) • Edward Lachman as Self • Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein as Self

Germany • Guadaloupe • Documentary

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Subtitle languages: English • Spanish • Brazilian Portuguese

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1. AWAITING AN INEVITABLE DISASTER

2. A REPORT BY WERNER HERZOG

3. The parts of the world.

4. The earth began to shake everywhere,

5. in Northern Italy, in the Philippines,

6. worst of all in China and in Central America.

7. In August '76, there were clear indications

8. that the volcano La Soufrière

9. on the Caribbean Island of Guadalupe was about to erupt.

10. The mountain had emitted its first signs

11. in spring that year and scientists had been flown in.

12. Things began to take a dramatic turn

13. towards end of August.

14. What was expected was no ordinary eruption,

15. but an explosion of the Hell volcano

16. with the force of at least five or six atomic bombs.

17. Thus, 75,000 inhabitants were evacuated

18. from the surroundings

19. the whole southern part of the island.

20. I was immediately fascinated

21. when I read in the newspaper that one single poor peasant

22. living on the very slopes of the volcano

23. had refused to be evacuated.

24. The very same day I set out together with my two cameramen,

25. Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein and Ed Lachman.

26. Next day we were already in Basse-Terre

27. on the southern tip of the island,

28. a town of 17,000 inhabitants, which was most threatened.

29. The place was completely deserted,

30. but in their haste

31. they had forgotten to switch off the traffic lights.

32. Telephones were still working and the air conditioning

33. and refrigerators in many houses were still on.

34. In one house, we even found a TV set still operating.

35. This is the police station. It was entirely abandoned.

36. It was a comfort for us not having the law hanging around.

37. Most of the shops had been cleared, but in frantic haste.

38. This is a shoe shop.

39. The silence was eerie,

40. just a few doors banging in the wind and water dripping.

41. Animals had taken over the streets.

42. We came across donkeys, pigs, chickens, and especially dogs.

43. The dogs had gone without food for days.

44. There was no more garbage to scavenge.

45. They had even stopped barking.

46. We found many of them starving

47. and the place stank of carrion.

48. It was as spooky as a science fiction locale.

49. This is the pier devoid of ships.

50. Then, the situation became very tense during the night.

51. There was a seismic crisis marked by 1,400 tremors

52. and shock waves within 10 hours.

53. The mountain seemed about to explode

54. and the last of the scientists had fled in a boat.

55. It was said that the catastrophe was inevitable

56. within the next few hours.

57. We set up an automatic camera at a distance of 25 miles

58. which took these pictures.

59. We flew over Basse-Terre by helicopter.

60. During the flight, we got the impression

61. that these were the last hours of this town

62. and the last pictures ever taken of it.

63. The sea was full of dead snakes.

64. They had crawled down during the night by the thousands

65. from the mountain channels and fled into the sea

66. where they promptly drowned.

67. The quiet and deserted atmosphere of the town

68. was so intense

69. that we became fascinated

70. and eager to take a look at the source of the silence,

71. namely at the crater of the volcano itself.

72. All along our path, we came across warning signs.

73. The greatest danger came from toxic gases.

74. That day, the Army roadblocks around an area

75. of 30 miles in diameter had been so tightened

76. that one could not even get through

77. with special permission.

78. We got around the roadblocks

79. by sneaking across country in a car.

80. Our path took us up to nearly 4,000 feet.

81. The volcano itself is almost 4,500 feet high.

82. For the first time we began to get scared.

83. Suddenly a toxic cloud of sulfur fumes

84. ringing the mountain descended

85. and it was all we could do

86. to turn our car around on the narrow path.

87. We hastily retreated a bit and waited.

88. A few hours later things looked better

89. because the wind turned.

90. We decided to carry on.

91. We followed the electric cables

92. that led to the seismographs of the geologists.

93. They had been set up right on the edge of the crater.

94. The ground was hot and rather unsteady.

95. At the top, there were bottomless fissures

96. from which hot sulfur fumes were pouring.

97. We could approach from leeward and take pictures.

98. The mountain had split 300 feet in length.

99. Actually, we were able to film without anxiety

100. for several hours,

101. but as we turned back,

102. our cameraman, Ed Lachman,

103. discovered he had left his spectacles behind.

104. We decided to pick them up the next day

105. if the mountain still existed by then.

106. The people of Guadalupe perhaps were so aware of danger

107. because in 1902 there had been a catastrophe

108. in the neighboring island of Martinique.

109. This is a photo of the town of Saint-Pierre

110. in Martinique taken in 1901.

111. There were 32,000 people living in Saint-Pierre.

112. The town was the administrative and cultural center

113. of the whole island.

114. There was even a horse-drawn tram and an opera house.

115. The town, like Basse-Terre,

116. lay at the foot of a volcano, Montagne Pelée.

117. Basically, the warnings emitted by the volcano

118. were identical to those of La Soufrière.

119. The population intended to flee,

120. but since there was an election

121. which had already been postponed for other reasons,

122. the governor persuaded the people to stay.

123. Only a few hundred left the town.

124. All others remained.

125. This is a photo taken on May sixth, 1902,

126. two days before the catastrophe.

127. And this is the last picture taken before the catastrophe.

128. The population had grown restless.

129. Some of them gathered on the beach,

130. still thinking of fleeing.

131. Then the next day, this here,

132. it is an actual photo, not a painting.

133. A dead cow in the water,

134. and to the right in the background,

135. hard to make out

136. the half-sunken wreck of the Canadian ship Roraima.

137. It had tied up to take on refugees.

138. It sank with all hands and not one soul survived.

139. In the town there was practically

140. not a single stone left standing.

141. All was silence.

142. The horrified rescue teams found not a living soul.

143. The people had been charred to a cinder.

144. 30,000 dead in all.

145. What had happened?

146. There had been no usual outbreak of lava.

147. The mountain had spouted a cloud of gas

148. in an explosion of searing flame.

149. The whole thing could only have taken seconds.

150. This is a meal of spaghetti, burnt to a cinder on a plate.

151. And here is a loaf of bread, turned into black coal.

152. And then they found one survivor. Just one.

153. It was a young thief, Sylbaris, who was in prison.

154. The miracle of his survival is that he only survived

155. because he was the baddest guy in town.

156. There were about 60 to 70 prisoners besides him,

157. but he was the only one that behaved so badly,

158. continually fighting with the wardens,

159. so that as punishment he was placed

160. in an underground solitary confinement.

161. When the blast of the heat struck,

162. he threw himself to the ground

163. and suffered severe back burns.

164. Later he was exhibited as a sideshow attraction

165. in an American circus and lived until 1956.

166. Here is a photo of Sylbaris in the hospital

167. where he suffered for several weeks.

168. The hours passed and the waiting began.

169. The silence grew ever deeper and the volcano La Soufrière

170. shrouded itself in clouds.

171. Nobody knew whether the eruption would happen

172. in the next few minutes or the next day,

173. and because one could not see a thing,

174. the fear became anonymous.

175. On that day, we found the man who had refused

176. to leave the district and two others.

177. We had to wake him up first.

178. What's going on here?

179. You have refused to leave the district, haven't you?

180. Yes, I am here because it's God's will.

181. I'm waiting for my death and I wouldn't know

182. where to go anyway.

183. I haven't a cent. I am poor.

184. You are waiting for death?

185. Yes, and no one knows when it will come.

186. It is as God has commanded.

187. He will not only take me to his bosom, but everyone else.

188. Like life, death is forever.

189. I haven't the slightest fear.

190. Yes, because it's God's will

191. and no one can tell when death will come.

192. Are you afraid?

193. Not one bit.

194. Why not?

195. God takes everyone to his bosom,

196. not just one, not just me.

197. He has ordained this for us.

198. Why don't you move out?

199. Where should I go?

200. Death waits forever. It is eternal.

201. I am not afraid of dying.

202. Aren't you afraid?

203. No, there is not a thing you can do.

204. Tell me about the volcano, La Soufrière.

205. Yeah, the volcano, it's always up there above us.

206. But the situation is very dangerous, isn't it?

207. Sure it is, of course it's dangerous,

208. but I'm staying here.

209. What difference does it make?

210. You know, it's really very dangerous

211. around here.

212. You're sitting on a powder keg.

213. Yeah, oui. Oui, oui.

214. Oui, oui.

215. Sure we are, but so are all of us

216. and it's God's will.

217. That's what God said

218. and I'm not the slightest bit worried.

219. Not one bit.

220. Why should I leave?

221. I would only have to come back.

222. Where could I go?

223. Tell me something about your life.

224. I'm at peace with myself,

225. with what's inside me.

226. I have nothing, nothing at all,

227. and I'm waiting for death.

228. You see, this is how I am waiting.

229. I'm waiting for a typhoon, too,

230. that has been predicted.

231. But I've lived through so many typhoons.

232. They always report them beforehand.

233. Typhoons come along in August and September.

234. I've seen quite a few in my time.

235. You're still young.

236. You have never lived through one.

237. What have you got to lose?

238. Ah.

239. I am not afraid of death.

240. Here I am and I look after the animals all the time.

241. They have left the cattle behind,

242. so I'm looking after them.

243. I'm saving them.

244. And if it gets much worse, if things get real bad,

245. maybe I'll clear out today.

246. I'd like to go and see my children again.

247. They're in Pointe-à-Pitre.

248. I'd like to see them again, but I'm not afraid of dying.

249. We all have to die someday.

250. I'm 55 now and I'm not scared anymore.

251. We all have to die, just like that.

252. I have 15 children.

253. One, two, three, 15 children.

254. They have left. They went to Pointe-à-Pitre.

255. I sent them there.

256. Where is La Soufrière, actually?

257. Where is the volcano?

258. Could you point it out? We can't see it.

259. Yes, back there. Up there.

260. Explain the situation to me.

261. But I haven't got any instruments.

262. I'm no specialist.

263. I'm all on my own. There's nobody else left.

264. It's pretty bad here.

265. Are you scared?

266. No, I'm not scared.

267. Why not?

268. Why should I be?

269. We all have to die one day and now I'm here.

270. I'm here and I'm poor.

271. I only have myself to look after.

272. I could leave here. Everyone has fled.

273. I'm not afraid of a single thing.

274. You can take me with you to Pointe-à-Pitre if you like,

275. but I could also walk to La Soufrière.

276. You see, I can get up to my house that way,

277. but if you'll take me to Pointe-à-Pitre with you,

278. I'll go along.

279. The volcano did not explode.

280. Days came and went.

281. The signs of a catastrophe began to diminish.

282. After some weeks,

283. the population began drifting back

284. to their homes in villages and towns.

285. It will always remain a mystery why there was no eruption.

286. Never before in the history of volcanology

287. were signals of such magnitude measured

288. and yet nothing happened.

289. The volcano will probably soon be forgotten.

290. In my memory, it is not the volcano that remains,

291. but the neglect and oblivion

292. in which those black people live.

293. There was something pathetic for us

294. in the shooting of this picture,

295. and therefore it ended a little bit embarrassing.

296. Now, it has become a report on an inevitable catastrophe

297. that did not take place.