Salt and Fire

While investigating an ecological disaster in South America, scientist Laura Sommerfeld comes to blame a powerful businessman, Matt Riley, for what has happened. Her work in Bolivia alongside United Nations colleagues Dr. Fabio Cavani and Dr. Arnold Meier brings her into direct conflict with Riley and his associates. Their hostility gives way to cooperation when a volcanic eruption threatens the region, forcing the researcher and the man she holds responsible to work together. The film is a drama and thriller set amid Bolivia's salt flats.

Werner Herzog directed from his own screenplay and produced alongside Michael Benaroya and Pablo Cruz. The cast is led by Veronica Ferres as Laura, Michael Shannon as Riley, and Gael García Bernal as Cavani, with Volker Michalowski, Lawrence Krauss and Anita Briem in supporting roles. Released in 2016, it is the seventeenth of the twenty-two films Herzog has directed in chronological order, arriving after Queen of the Desert and before Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds.

Audience response has been weak: on IMDb the film holds a rating of 4.2 from roughly 3,200 votes, and on TMDB 4.9 from a small number of votes, indicating limited viewership as well as low regard. A film critics' rating of 4.8 from 39 reviews places professional opinion broadly in line with the audience scores.