Netflix is revisiting the devastating 2019 Whakaari volcano eruption off the coast of New Zealand with the new documentary The Volcano: Rescue From Whakaari. Directed by Academy Award nominee Rory Kennedy (Last Days in Vietnam) and executive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio (Don't Look Up) and Ron Howard (We Feed People), the feature follows the horrifying minute-to-minute experience of the tourist groups on the island whose routine sightseeing trip became a nightmare of toxic ash and lava. Using the first-hand accounts from survivors and rescuers, it looks to get across the sheer terror of that day for everyone caught up in it. The trailer shows some harrowing footage taken during the eruption and shares some experiences from those involved.
The trailer opens up by setting the scene for that day. The day was gorgeous, and the hike was perfectly fine. There was always the possibility that things could go very wrong though and, when the volcano erupted, all hell broke loose. As the ash started coming down, footage is shown of tourists in boats and on the island scrambling to get away from the eruption, though, as shown by the injuries the survivors still bear, it was almost impossible to escape unscathed. Survivors of that day recall the otherworldly heat on the island and the fear that there was no hope of making it out alive. Despite the horrible conditions, many rescuers went out to try and save as many people as possible even as police and others were barred from going to the island. The footage highlights how a community came together to save so many who were otherwise doomed to die on the island.
The Volcano is largely possible due to the commonality of cell phones with cameras nowadays. While cinematographers Dominic Fryer, Mike Jonathan, Mark Lapwood, and Murray Milne helped bring it all together, Kennedy told Filmmaker Magazine that it was the footage taken by tourists that allowed her to create the feeling that every moment in the disaster mattered. "Given the proliferation of cellphones and video cameras, as well as the fact that this was indeed a tourist activity, I believed there had to be footage that would enable me to stay close to the ground, minute-by-minute, and that by structuring the film that way, the sum total of those minutes would add up to something larger," she said.
Everything We Know About The Volcano: Rescue From Whakaari
Kennedy originally showed the documentary at the AFI and DOC NYC film festivals ahead of the anniversary of the eruption which claimed 22 lives. The Volcano is the latest in a long line of documentaries for the prolific filmmaker who is well-known for her directorial efforts with the Academy Award-nominated Last Days in Vietnam, American Hollow, Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, and, more recently, Downfall: The Case Against Boeing. She has two more unnamed features in the works as well, one of which will cover Synanon while the other follows World War II refugees.
Alongside DiCaprio and Howard, executive producers for the film include Brian Grazer, Jennifer Davisson, and Phillip Watson. Mark Bailey, Dallas Brennan Rexer, Sara Bernstein, and Justin Wilkes are also on board as producers.
The Volcano: Rescue From Whakaari releases on Netflix on December 16. Check out the trailer below.