Atlantis

Watching this on a big screen one realizes how much effort must go into the "Life on Earth" and subsequent TV documentaries. This looks really mundane and unimpressive, even with the benefits of the cinematic experience. Maybe my expectations were too high, but if it had run another 30 min. I would have been asleep before the credits. There is about 15 min. of impressive footage of sharks and dugongs, but most of the rest is really repetitive and no better than a hundred other underwater wildlife documentaries.

In the mid-1980's I spent my youth at the Palace of dreams, Valhalla. A classic art deco independent cinema in the suburb of Glebe, Sydney Australia. The doors close in late February 1999, so I decided to pay my respects and dragged the children to see this underwater visual delight. A homage to the sea creatures of the universe with no occurring theme, only stunning images and a few humorous moments from the cheeky Besson. Serra's music works a treat here. Maybe twenty minutes too long.

I just would like to say that this film is quite unique. It is really not a Documentary, per se; it is more like a Special Interest Music Video. To try and explain it to someone who has never seen it, I would say it is like a cross between Jacques Cousteau, Fantasia, & an Enigma CD. Keep in mind there is no dialog other than the introduction at the beginning of the film, so it doesn't matter what language you speak to enjoy this. Frankly, the footage speaks for itself. If you want someone telling you what you see with your own eyes, look elsewhere. But if you want something so lulling it could very easily put you in a state of comatose, this is it. Truly, I fell asleep for at least the first 5 times I saw it. This is not a bad thing, I realized, because it helps you unwind if you had an extremely harsh day. More art than movie, this is a film you might see playing at an exhibit in an art museum. But give it a chance. It has some of the most utterly fascinating underwater wildlife footage and cinematography, with an ambient soundtrack throughout that I think fits it perfectly. It is very possible that you will see things here that you will not see elsewhere. The clarity defies underwater footage, at least that I have seen. I really don't know how they got some of the shots they did. And there are underwater animals that you may have never seen before, as well as tons of fish. If aquatic nature were to produce a music video, it would look like this. So in short, this is a keeper, and one I'm sure to have in my collection. Hopefully you will give it a chance and not write it off because it isn't the Disney film of the same name. 10/10

Atlantis is more visual art than nature film and a 'must see' for any Luc Besson fan. The film captures the feel of what it's actually like to swim underwater better than any film I've ever seen, perfectly illustrating the form and texture of sea water. Beautiful. Highly recommended for anyone interested in visual arts or diving.

The photography was spectacular. This is much better seen on a large screen. The mating scenes between seals reminded me of humans, and dugongs eating a cabbage like substance was remarkably human-like too. A turtle swimming underwater looks like a bird flying through air, and the camera angles circling animals are great. Shark frenzies and teeth are shown close up. Unlike the other viewers, I thought perhaps this was not long enough, though near the beginning I had several concentration lapses (even the second time I watched it). The camera technique is better than David Attenborough's shows, and the last two scenes are some of the best in the film. Some scenes are slow-motion (the waves) and some are sped up (the seal family) but it seems to suit the atmosphere and it's hard to tell.

The panning over coral (the Great Barrier Reef) really reminds me of Koyaanisqatsi, and overall it's great and better than Microcosmos. A 10 just for photography.