Is Jude Law's Eden based on a true story? Details explored

Eden 2025, directed by Ron Howard and written by Noah Pink, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2024, and is scheduled for US release on August 22, 2025. The survival thriller features Jude Law, Ana de Armas, Vanessa Kirby, Sydney Sweeney, and Daniel Brühl in a survival thriller based on set on the Galápagos Islands.

The Eden movie follows the story of Dr. Friedrich Ritter and Dora Strauch, who escape Germany in 1929 to find a simpler existence on Floreana Island. With diminishing resources and tensions, the settlers are not only fighting against the unforgiving environment but also among themselves.

Eden is based on a true story. The film is inspired by the historical episode known as the Galápagos Affair, when European settlers attempted to build new lives on Floreana Island in the late 1920s and early 1930s. In a September 2024 interview with Vanity Fair, director Ron Howard emphasized the accuracy of the film:

“You’d be shocked at how accurate the movie actually is. What was chilling about this story is that a handful of people went there and half of them either died or vanished—and that’s intense. That’s like a season of 'Survivor' where people really don’t make it.”

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Eden: A survival drama rooted in real history

A still from the movie (Image via YouTube/Vertical)

In 1929, Dr. Friedrich Ritter and Dora Strauch left Germany to live a simple, self-sufficient life on Floreana Island. Others soon joined them, including the Wittmer family and Baroness Eloise Wagner de Bosquet, who came with companions and plans for a hotel.

Tensions grew due to limited resources and clashing goals. Mysterious deaths and disappearances followed, leaving behind a puzzling story told through memoirs and reports.

Howard has said his interest in the project dates back over a decade. In a September 2024 interaction with Deadline, he explained:

“I encountered this story about 15 years ago, on a family trip to the Galápagos. I always wanted to go, and finally did. It exceeded all my expectations. There, I encountered this story. It was so fascinating to me that I just began reading whatever I could about the three units of people who chose to try to go off the grid and reinvent their lives at a time when the world was going through tremendous turmoil.”

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From history to onscreen film adaptation

Film adaptation screenwriter Noah Pink molded these historical narratives into a story that emphasizes both the physical obstacles of survival and the interpersonal tensions between settlers. Eden incorporates documented details like the illness of Dora Strauch, the Wittmers' attempts at establishing a family, while dramatizing the settlers' battles.

Sydney Sweeney, who portrays Margaret Wittmer, remembered how shocked she was when she learned that the tale was true. In a 2024 interview with TheWrap, she stated:

"You read all these crazy characters, there’s no way that they all are real, and they all come together and they have all these experiences."

Eden fictionalizes the events recorded to have taken place on Floreana Island in the Galápagos, giving a dramatized but factually accurate description of the settlers' ordeal. As half of the survivors died or vanished, the film is a recreation of a lesser-known but noteworthy historical event.

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