La Sagesse de la pieuvre

This is the second documentary I have watched on the Octopus, but this one is more personal. We don't get to know the context except that human protagonist has gone through a period of crisis and goes back to one of his childhood occupations--underwater exploration. He doesn't set out to study the octopus, but is surprised by one in particular and in over a period of several days earns its trust. He learns something everyday right up to the end (and beyond). My title comes from the protagonist, Craig Foster who originally saw himself as visitor, but came to realize we all are part of nature. Beautiful and I mean beautiful cinematography and moodily appropriate music.

There's not much to say about this documentary type movie. It show cases an animal that's one of the most intelligent creatures we know and interacting with it, in its own environment. I was pretty shocked by how much personality the octopus showed, and intelligence. It gives you such a large level of empathy and love for a creature that's so alien looking compared to a regular pet (a dog or a cat).

Definitely needed this in 2020. Would recommend this for anyone that enjoys the sea, or really, anyone.

A truly touching story of two species connecting on a level that is unknown to most. Animals are the greatest teachers out there, and what a blessing it is to connect with such an extraordinary creature. This just goes to show no matter how unlikely the connection, love can exist in any form.

If "My Octopus Teacher" does win the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature as predicted, (it's already won the BAFTA), I don't think I'll be complaining even if I think "Collective" the better film and the more worthy winner but that's only because "Collective" tells the more important story and is the more radical film. "My Octopus Teacher" is fairly radical, too, and as documentary filmmaking goes it's a beautiful job of work with some of the finest 'natural' cinematography I've ever seen, ("Blue Planet" eat your heart out).

It even has a plot of sorts and two leading players. One is Craig Foster, an explorer and cinematographer whose daily dives to a kelp forest in the seas off South Africa leads him to the films second character, a female octopus that Foster becomes very attached to and who, it would appear, becomes very attached to him, literally at times. Octopuses, it turns out, are highly intelligent creatures and Foster's octopus seems more intelligent than most, an 'alien' creature that can recognize an individual human being and want to be with that human, albeit in her own natural environment.

Of course, the octopus is also a wild animal in a wild, natural environment and much as he might want to Foster knows he can do nothing to change that; as we say, he has to let nature take its course while at the same time allowing himself to be 'taught' by the octopus, taught not just to care about the octopus itself but creatures in general and, strange as it may seem, interacting with this creature brough Foster closer to his own son. Superbly photographed and edited, its only falut lies in Foster's rather deadpan narration. He may be a nice guy but is somewhat dull in his delivery; luckily his camera speaks volumes.

"A lot of people say an octopus is like an alien. But the strange thing is, as you get closer to them, you realize that we're very similar in a lot of ways." Craig Foster, Founder of Sea Change Project

A lot of people come to an undersea doc caring mainly for the spectacular cinemaphotography. Not so much here because the Netflix original, My Octopus Teacher, is all about the relationship between an invertebrate and a man--the photography helps rather than dominates.

Herman Melville could have learned a thing or two from narrator and diver Craig Foster, whose gentle delivery draws you in the way his octopus love does. Melville could have minimized most of his delivery, whereas Foster and co-writer James Reed gently tell us about this lovely miniature wonder and her world in the simplest, most lyrical way.

She soothes us with her daily routine (Foster spends almost a year observing her without scuba tank (a year is the lifespan of the Octopus). She coyly draws him in like a lover. If you have your Octopus knowledge only from Jules Verne, you be astonished how small she is and loving-at one point, Foster caresses her, revealing how small she is, and vulnerable. Yet, she trusts him as well she should. See this masterpiece just to witness him lovingly holding her.

Foster adheres to the Star-Trek non-intervention mandate and watches how his beloved aqua woman is pursued by a hungry shark. Drama ensues with a slow-burning suspense most horror films would love to have.

You are likely to experience the mental cleansing the narrator did as he lost his depression, connected with his son, and found his place in the natural world, and thus the human world, while he became more intimate with her and her small world:

"What she taught me was to feel... that you're part of this place, not a visitor. That's a huge difference." Foster