Volcanoes are absolutely fascinating. They're some of the most powerful expressions of our dynamic Earth and reminders that we've built our homes on the back of a living breathing being. Massive red-orange eruptions vomit into the air spreading ash and lava for miles. What better way to bring that spectacle safely to the average person than via the large screen format? Honestly, I could watch this undressed geo-drama for hours entranced; still, wisely filmmakers put a story around the image. We follow a volcano-motivated photographer to the ridges, and sometimes even inside the throat of the volcano. This adds the human dimension while providing viewers with a real sense of scale. There's a lot of value here, however, filmmakers let pass a perfect opportunity to teach a bit of tech/science from their own playbook. In almost every shot the courageous adventurer is bringing his body and camera into danger. While he's focusing on the scene, we don't see his image, we see the image of the large format filmmaker. This is still very cool (it's large format after all), however, since photography is highlighted here, why not tell us what gear is being used to capture the images we're seeing? And why not even list the actual settings on the side of the frame? Teachers could discuss geology and camera specs with their students.

Oh, and by the way, the sound was absolutely awesome!

-- Books by Ross Anthony, Author/Illustrator --