Synopsis
Darwin meets Hitchcock in this documentary. Directors Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine have created a parable about the search for paradise, set in the brutal yet alluring landscape of the Galapagos Islands, which interweaves an unsolved 1930s murder mystery with stories of present day Galapagos pioneers. A gripping tale of idealistic dreams gone awry, featuring voice-over performances by Cate Blanchett, Diane Kruger, and Gustaf Skarsgard.
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Cast
- Cate BlanchettDore Strauch
- Sebastian KochHeinz Wittmer
- Thomas KretschmannFriedrich Ritter
- Diane KrugerMargret Wittmer
- Connie NielsenBaroness Von Wagner
- Gustaf SkarsgårdRolf Blomberg
- Josh RadnorJohn Garth (voice)
Recommendations
- 90
Village Voice
Goldfine and Geller pace and structure The Galapagos Affair like the true-crime tale that it is, its mysteries rich and involving, its characters enduring in the imagination long after the film has ended. - 83
Entertainment Weekly
A stranger-than-fiction gem. - 83
Christian Science Monitor
One of those stranger-than-fiction documentaries that just gets weirder and weirder as you’re watching it. - 67
The A.V. Club
Unfortunately, while there’s enough fascinating material here for an hour-long documentary, this one runs two hours, with most of the present-day talking-head footage (interspersed throughout, to momentum-halting effect) feeling irrelevant. - 63
Slant Magazine
The material and resources are certainly substantial, but the filmmakers clumsily weave separate stories together without detailing anything beyond a tangential relation. - 63
RogerEbert.com
The best part may very well be an actual 1932 silent movie, filmed on Floreana, and shown in its entirety in "Galapagos Affair". - 60
Time Out
All of this is fascinating in the moment, yet the doc never yokes all these threads into anything particularly deep or illuminating. The Galapagos Affair is less social commentary, more gossip. - 60
The New York Times
The Galapagos Affair would be a much stronger film were it not padded with the dull reminiscences and speculation of the settlers’ descendants.
