The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden

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."

A documentary telling the story of some early European settlers and the strange disappearance and deaths of some of them. It is told using actual footage, photographs and writings from some of those involved and some of the surviving ancestors.

I found this to be a fascinating and absorbing film about interesting real life characters trying to find their own bit of paradise in a beautiful but ultimately hostile environment. It doesn't try and solve the mysteries but instead gives you the facts and let's you decide for yourself. In particular I loved the grainy black and white film of the people that really brings the story to life.

This is one of the better documentaries I have seen. It will only find a limited audience but if like me the subject matter strikes you as interesting then it's well worth watching.

I have no regrets about seeing this unusual film. I don't think I've ever seen a documentary like it. The tale of a Nietzsche-inspired couple going off to live self-sufficiently on a tiny Galapagos island would be gripping enough. Add the other elements -- the "Baroness" who decides to settle on the island after them with her two lovers, and the bizarre and deadly events that ensue -- and it's really an amazing story.

Why, then, was the documentary so slow and, at times, dull? I think there were too many long, largely irrelevant interviews with people who lived on a nearby island. Their lives were quirky in their own way, but not that interesting, with little connection to the main story. I don't think it's bad to note that others lived on the Galapagos, but I don't think these interviews added much, and at times they were pure digressions. While not omitted entirely, they could have been cut dramatically.

This is a riveting true story, but only parts of the documentary are riveting.

"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.

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.