The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden (2013) Reviews

• almost forgotten mystery filled out

  teharatats2014-05-09

  I rather enjoy delving into the lesser known narratives of history. The film is a tour de force in historical research of an obscure, albeit real mystery that was a sensational item at one time (1930s.) European settlers filter onto a very remote island with different agendas, from idealistic to craven, apparently. Built from painfully researched documents and even film, and with interviews from a very special group of humans - those who have lived or were born on the Galapagos Islands, a sketchy legend comes to life into a fascinating narrative of society gone wrong. Ultimately a dark tale of the inability of humanity to go beyond a violent nature (as one aged interviewee says "it's in our genes and there is no escape") even when a few very small parties restart from scratch, isolated from virtually every other human presence on the planet, and clash.

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• If Paradise is only in one's head can it ever truly be found?

  twilliams762014-09-16

  An almost stranger-than-fiction tale of paradise found and paradise lost is recounted in the documentary The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden, a true-crime mystery that unfolded in the remote islands off the South American coast during the 1930s that remains unsolved to this day. Tiring of conventional life in Germany, a doctor and his sickly mistress retreat from civilization and head to the furthest reaches of the earth -- the unsettled islands of the nature-filled Galapagos Islands. A family of three soon joins them on the island and tensions begin to build as each have contrasting opinions of what the isle should be like. Things change even more when a beguiling baroness and her two lovers arrive on the island hoping to scout out a location for a fancy hotel. Things happen. Bad things. Told through narration by the reading of the actual people's journals and diary entries of their time on the island, the visuals of the film are as equally fascinating as a surprising amount of actual video footage was recorded of the various adventurers. It is as if it was all meant to happen ... so we'd be intrigued anew 80 years later! This little story has remarkably remained secret over the decades ... I'm surprised Hollywood has not tried to adapt this into a jaw-dropping suspense thriller as nobody on the island knew what to think of any of the others once mysterious things started to happen. What did happen? I watched the documentary and am still unsure. It is a perfect mystery ... or it is a perfect hoax. The film is intriguing and made me think of Agatha Christie's 'And Then There Were None'. I wish there was more to know ... but there isn't. It is an eternal mystery ... "A closed mouth admits no flies."

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• Fascinating Tale

  larrys32014-10-08

  Although this documentary could have used a little better editing, at 2 hours long, I still found it a fascinating tale. It begins in 1929, when Dore Straunch and Friedrich Riiter decide to leave their families and careers, in Germany, and move to the uninhabited island of Floreana, in the Galapagos Islands, West of Ecuador. They have had it with civilization and want to live a new life in virtually total isolation away from the world. However, some of their writings back to Germany are leaked to the press, who paint them as a modern version of Adam and Eve or the new Robinson Crusoes. In time (1932), another family the Wittmers, having read about the Ritters, come to Floreana to also get away from the world, much to the resentment and chagrin of the Ritters. The Wittmers, also German, consist of Margret, her husband Heinz, and their son Henry. They take up residence on the far side of the island, away from the Ritters. Soon though, the self-proclaimed French Baroness Eloise von Wagner also arrives on the island with her two minions Robert Philippson and Rudolf Lorenz. The Baroness is quite domineering and soon causes friction with the other islanders, as well as possessing a wild scheme of building a hotel there geared for millionaires. In time, the tension and bad feelings between the inhabitants of the island begins to boil over, and when they're hit with a drought in 1934, it will lead to a point of no return. There will be threats, mysterious deaths and most likely murders occurring. The movie is enhanced by actual film footage of all the island dwellers, and although we don't hear their voices their journals and writings are read effectively during the film to coincide with the what's happening on screen. I was quite surprised to see the list of movie notables who were doing the reading during the run of the credits. All in all, I found this documentary, directed by Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine, to be quite fascinating and interesting, based on a subject I knew nothing about before viewing it.

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• Fascinating film on the history of some of the people of Galápagos

  maggiefusari2014-04-23

  No spoiler here, the mystery remains intact, even though there are ideas presented about the philosopher and his mistress, the Wittmer family who stayed, and the Baroness and her lovers who didn't stay. You can judge for yourself what you think really happened. I recommend this film, which would not have been possible without the wonderful old films of Alan Hancock documenting the folks of Floureana. His expeditions not only gave us the film clips but also brought some of the comforts to the people on Floureana. You will see if those were good or not. The filmmakers did a fine job of putting together the film clips, the interviews and photos of the islands and telling a great story. If you love Galápagos, if you have been there or are planning to go you should watch this lovely little history of some of the people who went and lived there on Floureana.

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• A New World

  clarkj-565-1613362014-04-14

  I found this movie fascinating from several perspectives. First of all, it is the story of a supposedly everyday German couple that decide to abandon their regular lifestyle and head off to a remote location on the other side of the world. Wow you would think that this was a 60s couple heading off to Marrakesh! Well no, we have Friedrich Ritter a respected doctor, a veteran of the great war and also married. He decides to pack up and leave with his mistress Dore Stauch, also married, to live on the other side of the world. This is no ordinary doctor, we are told that he loves Nietzsche, but not much else about his politics other than the fact that he comes from an old conservative family. Could it be like many artists and visionaries that he saw the future from this period in 1934 and didn't like what he saw? We see the development of their life on one of the small islands of the Galapagos and its ups and downs. We are shown original movie footage and newspaper clippings which really lock you in. Next we see the arrival of the other settlers, the Wittmers and the Baroness and her entourage. The Baroness wants to develop a hotel for rich Americans and sure enough a ship full of them show up to explore the strange press tales that are being published. Again all original footage. We also get to meet all the current inhabitants of the island and how their histories develop from the original settlers, this is also extremely interesting. It seems to me the Friedrich and Dore made a good decision to explore the world!

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