Absolutely formidable, these 3 films will make you love the oceans even more

Since 1992 and the outcome of the Rio Summit, organized by the UN, on June 8 is a date that allows you to celebrate the planet's oceans. An annual meeting that makes it possible to raise awareness of the general public of better management of these vast maritime expanses and their resources, more than ever threatened.

On the occasion of World Ocean Day, here are three formidable documentaries, as poignant as pedagogues, around the subject.

Chasing Coral (2017)

The coral reefs are directly threatened by global warming. The temperature of ocean surface water has increased on average by 0.5 ° C from 1860 until today. IPCC forecasts, -the group of intergovernmental experts on the evolution of climate -climate, announce an increase in the average air temperature of 1.5 ° C by 2100.

The surface water of the oceans will therefore warm up again. Coral reefs are very sensitive to temperature changes due to their low adaptability. Without forgetting also that climate change has other effects such as elevation of the ocean surface level, and the increase in the frequency and power of storms.

Passed by numerous festivals and covered in prices (including that of the best documentary at the prestigious Sundance Festival in 2017), Chasing Coral by Jeff Orlowski turns out to be an absolutely remarkable documentary, at the same time very educational and enthusiastic, without ever falling – all by pulling the alarm bell – in the cross of deadly guilt, which is sometimes the defect of certain documentaries on the theme ecology. Highly recommended therefore.

Chasing Coral is available on Netflix.

A Plastic Ocean (2016)

We keep a certain consistency compared to the previous film with A Plastic Ocean. A documentary that highlights the consequences of our lifestyle on seabed and its inhabitants. The film team has gone around the world to discover what is hidden at the bottom of our oceans, offering images never seen so far from marine life and the consequences of plastic pollution.

A documentary there also quite interesting, to store alongside Plastic Planet, released in 2008. The clinical observation is, not surprising, frightening: 260 million tonnes of plastic are produced each year in the world. Besides that, 675 tonnes of garbage are thrown every hour into the seas, half of which consists of plastics. However, we only recycle 1% of the 14 million tonnes of annual polystyrene materials …

By 2030, the production of plastic waste on the planet should grow 41%. Thus, the amount of plastic in the oceans could double. In 2016 alone, 310 million tonnes of plastic waste was produced. 1/3 ended in the sea.

Sounds, plastic is everywhere in the oceans. We even found it in a mollusk that lives 11 kilometers deep, as well as in the fat of certain whales … The fight against the ravages of plastic for climate is one of the essential fights for NGOs.

The wisdom of the octopus (2020)

In 2010, washed out by long years overwork, the documentary maker Craig Foster decided to go rebuilding himself at the source, on the tip of South Africa where he spent his childhood. There, in a unique place called the course of storms, he embarked on snorkeling, and sets out to explore a Kelp forest, off the African coast. While he scrutinizes this extraordinary environment for the first time, he is far from imagining that he is about to make one of the most incredible encounters in his life.

Indeed, during his dives, he became friends with a octopus, and during an entire year, shares the daily life of this extraordinary animal, gradually discovering his intelligence, his sensitivity, his complexity, but also the many dangers that await her.

“For many people, the octopus is an extraterrestrial. But something strange, the more we approach it, the more we realize that it looks like us a lot. It is a totally different world. It is an incredible feeling. We feel that something fabulous will happen. But there is a limit not to be crossed.”

Netflix

It is with these few words that the wisdom of the octopus begins. Telected in the first person by Craig Foster, who describes us without concealing any detail the unique experience he has lived, this documentary is a story of reconnection, renewal, interior restoration.

In the same way as a octopus amputated with a tentacle is capable of seeing him repel some time after, Foster, in contact with this singular friend, gradually witnessed the regeneration of his tired soul.

Forget, for an hour and 25 minutes, the sprawling creature of 20,000 leagues under the seas or the monstrous Kraken of Pirates of the Caribbean. Forget everything that the cinema was able to tell you about this special animal, and let yourself be tamed by the wisdom of the octopus.

This feature film produced by Netflix and awarded the Oscar for best documentary in 2021 offers us an amazing, tender and beautiful trip, but also ruthless and, yes, sometimes absolutely overwhelming.