GurlyIamBeach
Instant Favorite.
Skunkyrate
Gripping story with well-crafted characters
Ceticultsot
Beautiful, moving film.
Allissa
.Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
chimpanzee_boyuk
Who says British special effects are complete rubbish? To be fair they are generally, but this is one of the better dramas in terms of... well... everything! The effects are pretty good (OK, their not spectacular, but at least the director hasn't put too much emphasis on them), very good acting, but the thing I really like about this is the Soundtrack; perfect for the story! The way to make a good docudrama is to focus on the stories of the people who experienced it, translate these with famous actors, and use an effective backdrop to aid the story, and that's just what Krakatoa: The Last Days has done. Forget all that glossy, expensive Hollywood rubbish; this is how a docudrama should be made! 9/10
artwk
I taped this long-winded docu-drama, and intended to watch it right through. I found much of it moderately interesting, but unfortunately the black-and-white footage of eruptions did not sit well with the technicolor narrative. Was this old footage from the 1930s? If so, why didn't the producers bother to use computer technology to add some colour?The first action sequence leading up to the tsunami was marred by the waving about of a hand-held camera. This amateurish attempt at realism never, repeat NEVER, approximates to real-life vision, as our eyes flick from one focus to another. They don't pan across a scene, blurring everything in sight.I struggled on until the ridiculous scene of the ship riding the slow-moving giant wave. This was utter nonsense. A tsunami wave travels at several HUNDRED miles an hour, and over deep ocean is very very very long but quite low in profile. It is only when it approaches land and shallow water that it becomes a high wave. The depiction of the ship somehow remaining on the 45 degree slope of water with its bow pointing up at the sky, without sliding back, was so ludicrous that I gave up and switched off.
mram16
A fact-based account of the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa in the Sunda Strait near Java, an Indonesian island. The eruption and its effects (including tsunamis and a super-hot ash cloud) took over 36,000 lives. The story follows several characters throughout the ordeal, including a Dutch official, his family, and his native clerk; a ship captain, his passengers and crew; a lighthouse keeper and his family; and a Dutch scientist in Indonesia to study the regions volcanoes. Included are narrations from diaries and journals of the survivors. The special effects are pretty good for a film of its kind, and unlike most made-for-TV fare, this docudrama actually has some good acting.
Chris Gaskin
Although I missed the first half-hour of Krakatoa: The Last Days, I saw the final hour and soon got into it.It tells the story of the distructuon of Krakatoa blowing its top and the aftermath in its wake. There was massive explosions that could be heard thousands of miles away, tsunamis and a huge cloud of ash from the final explosion.The lighthouse featured in this gets destroyed by a huge tidal wave and we see how a ship copes on the rough seas. Luckily, all survive.The special effects in this are fantastic, especially the scenes where Krakatoa is erupting.Well done to the BBC for bringing us this. For another version of this disaster, I recommend 1969's Krakatoa, East of Java with Maximilian Schell and Diane Baker.