User reviews

Slow shots ... trying to be clever ...it just misses the mark.

This movie has likely tanked a certain researcher's possibility of getting funding in the future. Changing research plans ad-hoc, inability to keep up on recording data, lack of time-knowledge over inputs (playing whale recordings in the ocean... "I think that's ours"?!?!), and questionable data points to begin with... Why would any agency pay for 'that'? Demonstrably amateurs.

And then there is the movie's director. Barely enough run time to qualify as a 'movie', and stacked with time-wasting scenes that arguably have nothing to do with what the viewer was expecting to see. Given camera technology, anyone can shoot great scenery in Alaska, or people goofing off on a tree swing. An evidentially poor effort; Apple producers are equally to blame. 3 stars is generous.

If you like beautiful cinematography then this may be for you.

It is extremely naval-gazing and focuses on the personal lives of the scientists rather then the whales and/or facts.

There are no conclusions on the questions asked at the beginning of the film.

A missed opportunity.

How do you take an absolutely fantastic research topic and beat your audience to death? This documentary does that very well. Most of the documentary is just painfully slow and focuses on the process rather than anything worth watching. There are shots of them fixing boat engines and making food and endless chatting about their personal lives. It's like the animals take a back seat in this documentary. Painfully slow to watch.

My wife and I thought this documentary was great. It explores the scientific process and nuances behind scientific discovery especially in such a mysterious world as the the ocean.

Our current generation only cares about being blown away or constantly entertained and doesn't understand what it takes to make a scientific discovery. Every day isn't like an action packed Hollywood science fiction movie.

This movie does a fantastic job with telling a story about a group of female scientist trying to add to our knowledge of one of the oldest living animal on this planet. Sometimes telling a story involves more than the science behind story but about the people involved.

That said, I was expecting more science behind the way whales communicate, but I think it's just not as known as we like to think it is and more research needs to happen.

Documentaries like this will provide a great way to highlight and motivate future scientists and research.

I was really looking forward to this documentary but left feeling incredibly disappointed. The subject matter is great, but it turns into researchers on vacation whale watching and not much else.

What a waste of time and grant money. No wonder our college system is so bloated and expensive!

You know it's a slow an awful documentary when watching paint dry is more exciting and educational. Don't waste an hour and a half on this piece of garbage like I unfortunately did..

I don't like animal documentaries, but in my desire to watch all the films on Apple TV I landed on this one, which is one of the most curious films I've seen recently. Its intentions are noble and subject matter is, on the surface, interesting, but ultimately, it's watching people doing a bit of research, for the entire run time.

Whale song has been a mystery for as long as we've been aware of it. The scientists involved in this film believe that it's not just idle vocalisation, but the oldest form of organised communication on the planet. Dr Michelle Fournet is in Alaska and trying to determine whether adding an artificial call into the area has an effect on local whale community. Meanwhile Doctor Ellen Garland attempts to track a specific whale song around French Polynesia to see if the songs are passed on, by the whales, like a story.

My main problem with "Fathom" is, I think, the main problem that most people have with it. Despite some lovely cinematography it's essentially watching some people do their job and their job generally involves standing still, listening to headphones. It's an honourable endeavour, trying to research a valuable subject matter than might prove vital in all sorts of unforeseen ways. I absolutely support people doing this research - but that doesn't mean I want to watch them do it. It doesn't help further than there's not much in the way of conclusion at the end of the research. With Dr Fournet, I don't understand whether they got any answers on anything, she seemed moved at the end though, so I suspect the problem there might be me. Dr Garland is a little more clear, as she hears a song several hundred miles away from where it was first identified, which does indeed suggest that the songs are passed around and copied by other whales

It feels like, rather than accept that the time spent recording these two research trips should be rolled up into another film, in a few years' time, when whatever the next steps in this research has been done, the footage was padded with personal information to make a run time, and then released anyway.

Nice to look at, but a waste of time.

And ear-opening as well. Brilliant 'first step' into a deeper more 'associative' understanding of other life on Earth, starting with Whales. The scientific attention shown to every scene is brilliant.

Didn't think it was possible to make a documentary on whales as boring as watching paint dry. "Fathom" proves me wrong.

To put it nicely - don't waste your time. There are downs of documentaries dealing with whales that are better. This doc struggles to fill its run time and more than 80% of it is just taking heads that have absolutely NOTHING to do with the subject matter, or even cursory forms of the subject matter. I'm absolutely serious - the time spent viewing, discussing, exploring, or educating anyone on whales is less than 20% of this entire film. One researcher, who seems experienced, with a plan, a goal, and multiple ways to professionally complete her tasks is barely in this, meanwhile another, who seems terrible at her job in every way imaginable spends all of 5 mins of the film talking whales, then the other hanging out with her research assistants, doing each other's hair, talking about the real world versus nature, and playing games. Seriously, it feels as if we have 15 mins of an interesting documentary, character and goal, then 90 minutes of some terrible home video nonsense. It's embarrassing, and shocking that anyone bought this.

End notes - ignore this film. You will regret it.

The problem with these women is they think they are interesting to watch. Let me break it to you. Nobody is interested in who you are. Or if you want a baby. I watched this as a nature and whale fan for getting to know more about whales language. The only thing I learned is that they think They identified one certain frequent sound that is probably the hello sound for whales. I don't know who is funding and paying these scientist, but if you go to Alaska and not even know how to fix a boat engine, while your whole mission ai depending on that engine, you might take an engine expert next time or a spare engine. What kind of thinking is going on these minds.

The most terrible documentary film I had ever seen, it is super boring, I cannot help but kept using +10 secs while watching this.

Thank you, Apple for bringing such content. It goes where not many have gone - in bringing to life both the work of these amazing women scientists on their field and the flavour of how our own communication may evolve a million years from now. As humans we probably look down upon the rest of life form with an assumption that we are the smartest and wisest - we have taken our supremeness as an assumption, maybe a false one.

This film reminds us to look up and beyond to things we may not fully understand due to our very evolutionary limitations. The patterns of Whale songs give us a flavour of how our own communication may evolve a million years from now. The sounds and the beauty of this film as well as the lives of these amazon scientists will stay with you after the film.

This movie promises an intriguing new understanding of the world of humpback whales. Unfortunately it only delivers a nauseating feminist mouthpiece.

Science is interesting. Forcing an ideology down the viewer's throat in the guise of science - not so much.

Remark for the director and the scientists: I would use professional close back headphones next time and don't put delay or reverb on the whales songs.

Described as a visual and aural wonder is partly to the point. The aquatic sequences of whales are powerful, as are the sound captures of their song. But... for a documentary that is aimed to concentrate on this important subject it is at times irritating to say the least to listen to the scientists describing their work. American accents are fine, except when they are delivered in what seems to be the fashionable way of speaking, in a voice that sounds like laryngitis, especially when accompanied by totally unnecessary music that renders the words being spoken unintelligible. Poor whales... they deserve better than this!

In an interview with Neil deGrasse Tyson, on 'StarTalk', Michelle Fournet said that their intention is to not have a conversation with animals, such as whales; it is their intention to study animals in their natural environment, deciphering their language while never allowing the animals to know that they are there. In this documentary...it is more or less completely the opposite! They say in this documentary that after studying whales songs for so long it is their intention to (re)create whale songs, themselves, and play them to the whales and, then, see what, if any, response that they get from the whales due to their, attempt to obtain, communication with them. The only difference being that, in this documentary, they are trying to fool the whale(s) into believing that the humans are in fact not human; that the whale(s) are, in fact, having a conversation with another whale. (Yea, maybe I missed the part in that interview where they said that they were trying to do this in the rest of their research - but, only do that in this documentary... But, I don't think so!)

Well, perhaps I should bother to mention that I don't know that whales are, necessarily, cognitive & freethinking, sentient, beings; but, even if they aren't, & certainly if they are, they are, it's pretty obvious, nonetheless certainly aware of human existence by the very reality that human beings have been polluting the environment, on an industrial scale, for about 300 years...& to a lesser degree for a lot longer! (The Industrial Revolution began in Europe in, approximately, the year 1730.) Humans have actually been polluting the environment for thousands of years; they have only been doing it on such a widespread systematic scale, at an industrial level, for only about three centuries. For example: Some people say that dogs are cognitive & freethinking, sentient, beings; others say this only about certain breeds of dogs. Some people say this about cats, too. Well, whether they are or are not, dogs & cats know that by licking our faces in the mornings as we are asleep, barking/meowing at us & waking us up, that we will get up & feed them, that we will take them/let them go outside, to go to the bathroom, to meet their friends, get some exercise, chase a ball, etc.

So, they know that we are there whether or not they are cognitive, freethinking & sentient! Trying to hide ourselves from their gaze only serves to waste time as we foolishly tell ourselves that we are doing something for some _'greater good',_ when we are expressing a willful ignorance about what we are, and have been, actually doing. While I am glad that the narrative was different for this documentary, than it apparently was for that interview, there was some obvious lack of professionalism involved in the work of both of the two scientists focused on in this documentary, in particularly, however, that Michelle Fournet! This was made even more gratuitous when the aim of Michelle Fournet's research shifted rather intensely, from trying to focus on one whale, that they apparently chose at random, to casting a wider net...trying to talk & listen to multiple whales at the same time, which actually makes a lot more sense. It seems that they initially did not give much thought to how to conduct their research, before this specific field work began. I get the impression that they believe, & that at least Michelle Fournet believes, that critical thinking skills are not a good idea, to even have access to them, when conducting scientific field work.

Maybe this field of study is very worthy of the philanthropic money donated & high tuition costs of the universities, & which is obviously needed, to conduct this kind of work. Unlike a number users talkin' trash about this film on here, I do believe that it is worth it. But, what I don't believe is that this field of study truly needed a documentary; especially one that gives it such a bad name. Or maybe it's just these two very boring scientists... Michelle Fournet, specifically, appeared to be quite devoid of a specific critical thinking skill, specifically that of common sense, when they dumped fuel from the motor of their boat, during this documentary, polluting the environment that the whales live in! I understand that a specific 'rule of thumb' applies to medical doctors & may not apply to those in other areas of science; but, maybe it should...

'Do. No. Harm.'

I like whales however, I wonder, did the whales give out a dictonary of their language? I somehow doubt it, as I doubt the veracity of this documentary.

A lot of time spent on nothing, with nothing being the result. We are so gullible, aren't we, because of the trend of modern technology. We have lost the art of thinking, and belive all the bull being pushed.

The promise - exploring how to talk to the animals (whales).

The execution - a prolonged portrayal of bumbling marine biologists.

I think they tried to inject some excitement and anticipation into the dreariness of fieldwork with a "will they, won't they" find their McGuffin (evidence of whale language). If this is a documentary of whale song, then the focus should be on creatively educating the audience about this subject. Instead, they displayed opaque charts and bandied around high-level buzzwords in a failed attempt to clarify what data they were collecting, how it is analysed and what deductions could be made. They could have invested more in some digital graphics to really explain how they are understanding these very unusual noises.

In the end, it was a parallel portrayal of two hapless marine biologists doing what they love to do and moaning about it (being away from loved ones, getting peckish, being unprepared with spares). The focus was on the how (how they lived, how they prepared their equipment), not on the what. Maybe the constant complaining was intended to generate some sort of drama to this otherwise tedious work.

About the only audience that might get something out of this high repetitious (many shots are repeated half a dozen times) narrative might be budding marine biologists who want a glimpse of what field work is like.

Whales are my thing, they fascinate me and I love most documentaries about these wonderful animals.

Sadly this documentary isn't so much about whales but about the scientists attempting to communicate with them

Little majesty about whales, a pretty dull doc about the individuals studying them. It focuses on their lives, the experiments. Maybe it's a cost issue but the lack of actual whales is super frustrating.

It's very odd as the cinematography is pretty off the chart. Whoever was in charge of some of the imagery should get a pat on the back but sadly the content within the gorgeous pictures is just boring.

What a relief to finally see a documentary about nature without all the loud music and men being overreacting in their talk. Yes, this one has the better touch, a female voice, beautiful to see these cool women do this research. More of this please.

This isn't just a story about whales. It's about our natural world and an animal that has millions of years of evolution ahead of us. It communicates through song, and this documentary reveals how two scientists are revealing how this magical animal communicates. But it's more than that. There's a human dimension as we get a glimpse of what it's like to be isolated and out in the field, away from society. And it's also about the expectations male scientists have of female scientists.