Hello to all of you beautiful nerds and welcome back from traveling the nerd universe. I am back with a follow-up!
WHat Should Have the White Island NetFlix Documentary Should Have Talked About
I know I reviewed the new documentary, The Volcano: Rescue from Wakari but I felt there were some things that were missing and have talked about it in the review. As I was about to hit the pillow for a nice night of sleep, I did realize the documentary missed some things. I know I haven’t picked it up a bit during the review but there is more to talk about. But first!
Disclaimer
This post is based on the thoughts and opinions of the lead writer of this blog, please respect her thoughts and opinions and the points she is bringing up. You have been warned!
The Cruise Trip
Even though the Yuris mentioned it briefly, the documentary didn’t talk about the trip to the island as part of a selection of trips. Matt and Laura, sorry everyone I got his name mixed up with one of the survivors, talked about how they chose excursions throughout the trip and it was Matt’s choice. Excursions are basically adventures that are done at the locations you visit. I mentioned in the original review how I went to the Mayan ruins in Belize in Central America and it was done through Carnival. The documentary should have mentioned it was with Royal Caribbean and talked about the ship heading there.
THe Danger Levels
The videos I saw about this disaster on YouTube mentioned something that the documentary hadn’t and that there were danger levels placed. This could have been mentioned due to how there was a history of eruptions, especially in 2016 and yet people visited this island with how active it has been for many years. After 2016, the island was placed on Level 2 where it was close to erupting. I think Blair from Illuminati put it best, “Oh! You’re visiting today! I will be over here just being quiet!” I think most islands would warn cruise companies and pass it onto the passengers to make that decision, which was a controversial part of this trip. What was interesting was in the 60 Minutes episode that the passengers were only given brief information and a safety check before going onto the island. It would be important to pass that info along.
History of the Island and Its Formation
I should have mentioned this before the last point but I think it would be great to fit it with after danger levels. Blair and Mile Higher talked about the island’s formation and how the volcano came to be. This would be important for the documentary to talk about how the volcanic materials formed this island and the acid lake at the crater, which is the main part of the tour where people went to for the view. It would also have been important to mention the history, such as the sulfur factory and its collapse in the 1930s and then the eruptions afterward. Also, about how the ground was so fragile since someone had their foot go through the ground.
The Passengers on the Cruise and Tours
One thing is that the documentary only focused on the Yuris, Kelsey who was one of the tour guides, and Jesse. One passenger on the Phoenix was also focused but there were more passengers of the cruise and the Phoenix who were on this trip. One of them happened to be a man who had recorded the trip as a vlog and most of the footage that had been used in the YouTube specials should have been in it talking about his experience with his wife. Another is of course Stephanie Browet who went through her ordeal being burned but the first video of the eruption on the phone was due to her sister, Crystal. Also, if he was still alive for this, John Cozad should also have been in this documentary or even the other person that was on the helicopter with Stephanie, Lisa, who came with her husband and her daughter, Zoey, which you hear their names in the credits. Still, more people who went through the eruption should have been in this, if they didn’t want to then I would understand that easily. At least who talked about what they went through was brave of them to do.
The Aftermath
Even though when people talked about returning to Fakhri which is the island next door, more things about the events that unfold after the eruption such as how the island looks now since of course someone new would be learning about this island before and after. I should have mentioned in the history part that someone may have not been able to learn about this through the internet and may have stumbled upon this through NetFlix if they had it on their tablet. Volcanoes usually change after an eruption such as Krakatoa collapsing on itself and Mount St. Helens having a new bulge after its eruption. It is closed to this day and could have talked about what families reacted not knowing what had happened while being on the cruise ship, which people would have been worried and Stephanie’s mother should have been in the documentary talking about her experience and any other passengers that may wanted to go on the excursion and knew the passengers may talk about their reaction to any news reports they may have found on their phones. Things could have been talked about in this section.
More About the Coast Guard’s Decision
During the events of the eruption, there was a decision where they reported about not going on the island because it was safe. I agree with the Yuris that they are supposed to rescue people in the first place since that is their job. People believed that if there were more helicopters, especially doing it early enough, more people would have been alive. I would not blame anyone for being angry about not being rescued in time and losing more people. Heck, they would have been able to get the bodies early enough, if you remembered that two bodies did wash away while they were retrieving them almost a week after the eruption. I understand that rescuers were risking their lives but I am agreeing with Chanel in Mile Higher that firefighters go in with protective gear and the pilots should have had better equipment and gear to protect themselves. During the documentary, the pilots talked about how they took their own First Aid Kits and gas masks to people to keep them breathing since ash did block airways. Still, more could have been done and the decision should have been talked more about.
The Lawsuit
Apparently, there is a lawsuit taking place between Royal Caribbean and the tourists because of the safety guidelines and it was believed that passengers should have thought about going beforehand. Here is the problem though, they were only told to wear closed toe shoes, were handed gas masks and hard hats, and people in wheelchairs were discouraged to go. Royal Caribbean are being sued for not being handed the right safety guidelines and I can see that can be grounds for suing since if it was my family I would have sued as well. I hope the victims win this since so many of them have life threatening injuries and big scars. Stephanie even lost her fingers , well most of them, due to how much she got burned. Like I said in my original review, earlier this year she took off the compression mask she had on. Matt Yuri even talked about how he can’t move his ring finger on his dominant hand, Laura Yuri talked about how she lost her wedding ring even since her hand was burned so badly and begged to keep it. Like I said, lost so much due to injury and hoping they win this because of how they were not informed enough nor protected. I am glad that the island is closed off because more people could get hurt.
I think those are good enough points to talk about. This documentary felt short and should have more than one episode to talk about these points. Yes, it’s about rescuing people but it’s important to know about most parts leading up to the rescue that the specials I’ve seen on YouTube pinpointed but the documentary hadn’t. Like I said above, I think someone new to this subject would get more of the glimpses of the event and how the rescue happened but not enough info. I was glad to see it on YouTube when I had since I didn’t know until the end of 2020 so it was fresh back then. I do wonder about any of the other victims and how they are doing to this day, which happened to be Lisa and John would be great to see updates on them.
Well, that’s it, man it was a lot of things to write about. Like I said, Wakari has been closed since this eruption and seeing that something like that can take place could hurt so many. I have watched volcano documentaries talking about how people go through eruptions in Hawaii, Indonesia, and other parts of the world. There are still warning signs about Yellowstone erupting soon since signs have been happening since the start of this year.
Next up would be the Bests & Worsts!
Nerdy Shique Universe 