The Volcano: Rescue From Whakaari

Powerful... It's a very scary movie and not for everybody.

The choice to limit the film’s scope also limits its impact; but the heart of “The Volcano” is still effectively harrowing, showing the moment when awe at nature’s wonders turns into mortal terror.

The resulting film pushes all the expected sentimental buttons and jerks a tear or two... But viewers might sense that there’s a more sublime dimension to the story lurking just under the surface like a bubbling reservoir of magma.

Once the ash settles, we long for insight, but only the trauma lingers on.

The Volcano does a great job of capturing those two minutes of terror, and the lifetime of pain that many will have to endure as a result.

Intermittently, the film verges on criticizing ineffective threat systems or irregulated eco-tourism, but The Volcano isn’t willing to explore controversial ramifications, even to illustrate how responsibility was eluded.

Forensic anatomy of a disaster in this fine documentary that explores a tragic episode in adventure tourism, while detailing the unfolding tragedy and interrogating the risks taken that led to it

After watching this documentary and realizing there were Asian Indian Americans and a Chinese residents of Australia who were not interviewed, I had to really question why all the interviewees, with the exception of one Māori, were White.

Unlike Rory Kennedy’s Boeing doc, this one succeeds purely on a visceral and emotional level rather than an economical attack on what allowed this tragedy to happen.

The Volcano does its job well. You'll be impressed by the film and by the integrity and kaupapa that got it here.