Les seigneurs de la mer

For filmmaker Rob Stewart, exploring sharks began as an underwater adventure. What it turned into was a beautiful and dangerous life journey into the balance of life on earth.

Driven by passion fed from a lifelong fascination with sharks, Stewart debunks historical stereotypes and media depictions of sharks as bloodthirsty, man-eating monsters and reveals the reality of sharks as pillars in the evolution of the seas.

Filmed in visually stunning, high definition video, Sharkwater takes you into the most shark rich waters of the world, exposing the exploitation and corruption surrounding the world's shark populations in the marine reserves of Cocos Island, Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.

In an effort to protect sharks, Stewart teams up with renegade conservationist Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Their unbelievable adventure together starts with a battle between the Sea Shepherd and shark poachers in Guatemala, resulting in pirate boat rammings, gunboat chases, mafia espionage, corrupt court systems and attempted murder charges, forcing them to flee for their lives.

Through it all, Stewart discovers these magnificent creatures have gone from predator to prey, and how despite surviving the earth's history of mass extinctions, they could easily be wiped out within a few years due to human greed.

Stewart's remarkable journey of courage and determination changes from a mission to save the world's sharks, into a fight for his life, and that of humankind. Sharkwater 10/10

I had an awfully difficult time getting anyone to see this movie with me. Apparently, a lot of people have issues with sharks. This apprehension was part of the original inspiration for filmmaker, Rob Stewart, to make SHARKWATER. He had been taught his entire life to fear sharks, as have we. The media vilifies sharks every so often to remind us that they are not our friends. It isn't safe to get in the water after all. Haven't you all seen that movie with sharks where they eat all the innocent people? It's as if we have never fully recovered from JAWS. In his career as an underwater photographer, Stewart discovered that these fears are almost entirely unfounded. He could swim with the sharks and get close enough to touch them if he showed them that he did not fear them and that they had no reason to fear him. And so he set out to make a documentary that would demystify our notions that sharks are perversely obsessed with the killing of human beings. What he would discover is that we as humans have already launched a full-scale retaliation against our sworn enemy.

Stewart's experience as an underwater photographer does not go to waste in this breathtaking film. Stewart's ocean is one of tranquility and warmth. Over time, it has become his sanctuary and he presents the environment to his audience with the same feeling of security that he claims to get from it. Though he was once very much like a fish out of water, Stewart has found a new home in the ocean and his neighbors don't seem to mind him at all. The imagery of SHARKWATER was what originally drew me to the film and it does not disappoint. Schools of fish of so many different varieties swim past and mingle with each other that the screen becomes a mélange colour and movement that is at times dizzying and hypnotic. And though those same fish scatter when the sharks enter the frame, Stewart does not. Instead, he swims towards them and in one instant you see how two species can forget their supposed feud between them by letting their fear of the unknown fall away. For a moment, two world collide to create an unexpected harmony.

This only makes what follows all the more painful. Stewart's shoot took an unforeseen turn when he joined the crew of a militant oceanic watchdog ship that makes it their mission to ensure international treaties protecting the rights of ocean dwellers are upheld. Before long, Stewart and the crew are involved in an international scandal over shark-finning. In some countries, like Japan, shark fin soup is considered a delicacy that when served affirms one's social status. It is popular at massive weddings and can cost upwards of a hundred dollars in a restaurant. According to Stewart, shark fin trading on the black market is only second to drug trafficking. Although the statistic seems a bit skewed, there are still billions of dollars involved in the trade. For the first time in the 450 billion years that sharks have been on this planet, there are certain species of sharks that are facing serious threats of extinction. Once again, human beings plow through other life in pursuit of the almighty dollar without acknowledging the long term ramifications. See, the planet consists of two-thirds water and this water contains a lot of plankton that produces 70% of the planet's oxygen. The ocean is filled with fish that survive on plankton. The shark is the ocean's leading predator of these plankton eaters. If we kill off all the sharks, then the other fish will have free reign over the plankton, which means a diminished production of oxygen for us to breathe. Why do we always assume that our actions have no consequence? And why do we always put money ahead of preservation? You can't spend money if you can't breathe.

All of this ecological unrest for soup. Shark fishers remove the fins of the shark, which make up 5% of the shark's body, and throw the shark back into the ocean to die. Stewart and his crew go undercover into the illegal industry to give weight to their accusations. As you stare out at rooftops covered with shark fins drying the sun, you cannot help but be horrified at the sheer size of the operation. SHARKWATER invites you to make friends with the enemy and to see how we as humans are so much worse to sharks than they are to us. The mirror is turned to expose who is the more evil predator and its mouth is not home to sharp jagged teeth but rather to a smiling face sipping down its soup. Sadly, SHARKWATER will not be seen by as many as it should as people prefer their sharks as foe instead of friend. Bring on JAWS 5!

The most beautiful film I've ever seen. I was so moved by the film that I had to retreat to the hall of the theater to regain my composure during the screening. The scenes are shockingly beautiful and also unbelievably disturbing at times and serve the greater purpose of the film. This new director has created a masterpiece, showcasing brilliant cinematography and a true-life adventure that even Hollywood couldn't conjure up. His movie will change the way the world looks at the oceans and, in particular, sharks. It's exciting to know that children will have the opportunity to become informed about the reality that sharks are being wiped out....this movie holds the promise that we can save the world from ourselves. The world has yet to see a film of this magnitude. Sharkwater will undoubtedly change the world. GO SEE THIS MOVIE!

Call this film the myth-buster of all shark films! Call it beautifully filmed. Call it the start of a major kelproots movement. It is a call, a cry for our attention! Grassroots documentaries are not uncommon and are a vitally necessary form of information. Sharkwater brings this kind of movement from the ocean to our theaters *Releasing across Canada March 23, September release in the U.S., and hopefully soon to our schools and homes.

Rob Stewart (Essentially the one man movie band) brings us, along with his passion, into the oceanic ecosystem and gives a grand, albeit disturbing, view of the life there. His message is clear and strong, and provides an even picture of what is happening to the oldest oceanic life form and to the people connected to it. Hint: we all are.

Take your children, your teens and give some small amount of your time to the questions presented here. There is a powerful story here, with concise editing and beautiful cinematography, it is time well spent.

Rob Stewart had made himself a great film.

It's a film that captures the grandeur, misinterpretation, and exploitation of not just sharks but all sea creatures in the oceans.

Among the film's breathtaking footage of kelp forests, massive bait balls, alien seahorses, and of course sharks, the films bearings focus on the absolutely disgusting, unethical, and immoral treatment of wildlife.

Stewart feels like he needs to legitimatize his film by explaining why the deaths of sharks will harm human beings, but really, he doesn't need to. The cruelty he films is more than reason enough to understand that something beyond greed is at work.

I would love to know if there are poachers that aren't just Asians and South Americans. I'm sure there are, but the amount these pathetic men over-fish the oceans is just truly unbelievable. They do nothing but kill.

I'm amazed how many Chinese, a large elitist and delusional lot of them, are so blind to what they're doing. Close-minded ignorance is a staple among many of the worlds fishing communities.

The film is very disturbing, especially for shark and animal enthusiasts, and at least warrants a PG-13 rating. There are numerous scenes of shark-finning and vicious, blank stare poaching of humpback whales to loggerhead turtles.

The film isn't perfect however. Stewart himself isn't that likable, and the film would have probably worked better if it followed someone else around. The soundtrack isn't very good either.

But the film isn't about Stewart, or at least not for me. It's about sharks and all the life under salt water that is being unfairly slaughtered.