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| category | date | draft | posttype | slug | title |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [1 education health environment nature] | 2021-01-19 09:40:44 | false | note | 6006a91c | note |
'I realised I was changing. She was teaching me to become sentitised to the other. Especially wild creatures.'
'You slowly start to care about all the animals. Even the tiniest little animals… you realise that everyone is very important.'
'What she taught me was to feel that you are a part of this place, not a visitor.'
I was browsing films on Netflix last night and suddenly a man with an octopus in water caught my eye. Having been fascinated by octopuses since I read about their lives last month, I was quickly lured to this documentary My Octopus Teacher. Wow. It was the most moving nature film documentary I have ever watched. By far.
My Octopus Teacher is about a strange bond between a filmmaker Craig Foster and an octopus. To heal from burnout and depression, Craig took a career break and came back to his hometown, Cape Town. One day, while swimming in a kelp forest, he stumbled across a 'ball' that was covered with shells. It was an octopus. Enchanted, he decided to come visit her every day for a year.
While watching it, various emotions were triggered. I felt curious, intrigued, happy, nervous, sad and empowered. As they gradually built trust in each other, the octopus started letting Craig witness her ordinal behaviours like hunting, resting and what it seems like playing. The sequence of her being attacked by a shark and surviving it was particularly nerve-wrecking and it really hurt me to see the magnificent creature being so weak.
At the end of the film, I felt totally captivated by the beauty of life and made me want to learn about wild creatures more.
Ehrlich, P., & Reed, J. (Directors) & Foster, C. (Producer). (2020). My Octopus Teacher [Motion picture]. Netflix.