CommentsXp
Best movie ever!
MoPoshy
Absolutely brilliant
Odelecol
Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.
kbeam
This is a documentary that was not originally photographed or filmed to be a documentary. The news clippings and '30s era home movies captured the lives of idealistic dreamers and isolationists trying to recreate paradise on the rugged coastal fringe of one of the least inhabited of the virtually uninhabited Galapagos Island group. The quirky castaway cast of this real life video diary seemed at once, deeply gratified with their aloneness while paired with a disenchanted mate seeking any form of domesticated animal companionship for a feeling of self-worth and value. Isolated introspective perfection for some, painful loneliness for others. We view in sharp Black & White clips, shabbily dressed family members standing on the front porch of their weathered tropical shack overlooking a rocky outcrop of brush and cactus while gazing off into the distant waters of Post Office Bay hoping to catch a first glimpse of sail threaded riggings signaling the return of a familiar 3-masted schooner with goods and well wishes from distant places and friends left behind. Somehow I found myself thinking about all of the present day larger than life personalities you find on the Alaskan survival escapist shows and their gold lusting neighbors. Hardy individuals living on the edge of society to pursue their survivalist dreams and pull riches from the grounds they farm or pan. This is a documentary about socially awkward characters whose lives take a disruptive turn when the Baroness, soon to be slutty Piratess, arrives on the craggy island paradise with her salt and pepper boy toys.Unattractive and delusionally self-assured the flagrantly promiscuous Baroness, of dubious royal heritage, becomes the flamboyant center point of islander society. Territorial infringement, water rights disputes and expected jealousies create a constant undercurrent of distrust and friction. In the midst of growing tensions we're suddenly treated to a revealing view of the Baroness's talents amply on display in intriguing scenes from the locally acted and produced movie, "The Piratess". An aaarg-rated must see!After laying down sufficient backstory things start happening, dreadful things. People go missing, more people go missing, dead people are found and others remain mysteriously nowhere to ever be found. I really enjoyed this stitched together artsy documentary and plan to let it sink in for awhile before watching it again.
MartinHafer
"The Galapagos Affair" is a very strange but enjoyable documentary. However, it has a huge strike against it--what exactly happened on the tiny island of Floreana really isn't clear--even all these decades later. The film begins in the late 1920s. A couple of weird people abandon their spouses and run off to the Galapagos Islands. Their goal is to completely abandon society, to they move to the uninhabited island of Floreana and are, briefly, all alone. Oddly, however, a short time later another family moves to the island. Since Friederich and Dora came to the place to be alone, they aren't exactly thrilled to have new neighbors. Amazingly, a short time later, a wacky baroness arrives with her lovers and she announces she's going to turn the island into a resort for the rich and famous. Now it was easy to dislike Friederich and Dora (they really were selfish and nasty folks), you couldn't help but assume the film will climax with the pair killing off their new neighbors in order to stay all alone. Well, this is NOT what happens. But what does happen really is wide open to conjecture. The baroness and one of her lovers MIGHT have been murdered but there really isn't any concrete evidence that this is the case. Because of this, the mystery isn't necessarily very satisfying and the film, while quirky, isn't exactly satisfying to watch. Strange, yes, however.This is a technically well made film--featuring a lot of film clips, photos and interviews. But it also is one that leaves you scratching your head. You THINK some murders occurred...but then again, they might not have. So, because of this, your overall enjoyment of the piece is certainly far from certain.
twilliams76
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."
clarkj-565-161336
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!
