My Octopus Teacher

This Oscar-winning documentary is an amazing study of human interaction with a creature from the depths.

South African wildlife filmmaker Craig Foster was becoming frustrated with his work filming in the Kalahari desert. The problems of documenting animals’ lives on such a location had become too much so, in order to change his own lifestyle, he took to the water and began exploring nature in the wet. He soon began to feel a sense of being in his element as nature in the ocean was calmer, pleasanter and infinitely more interesting than life on land – and, generally speaking, it was a tad safer too.
 
Once he had accustomed himself to the freezing cold of the water he began to explore and, among other things, he discovered a female octopus. Far from scuttling away, the cephalopod mollusc approached him, seemingly to be as curious about the filmmaker as he was about her. They soon developed what can only be called a relationship. He continued to dive every day and there she was, apparently waiting for him. He was able to get up close to her and she would put out a tentacle and they would shake hands. He was also able to hold her and she would follow him everywhere, taking a ride on his hand.
 
Apart from building a trustful relationship with the octopus, in time Foster also learned how intelligent she was. With eight tentacles she was vulnerable to attack by other denizens of the deep, in particular the pyjama shark. In an effort to hide from her enemy and also to disguise herself when trying to catch food, she collected shells from the bottom of the sea, covered herself up with them and waited until the predator had moved on, or her next meal had arrived, at which point she would break out of the shells and grab a passing fish.

This is a fascinating documentary about an amazing phenomenon. It is not only eye-opening as a piece of natural history photography but it is also a charming, entertaining and ultimately moving account of how human beings can communicate with the strangest of ‘wild’ animals. Craig Foster and his son Tom more than well-deserve their Academy Award for the best documentary of the year.

MICHAEL DARVELL

Featuring  Craig Foster, Tom Foster.

Dir Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed, Pro Craig Foster, Screenplay Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed, Ph Roger Horrocks, Ed Pippa Ehrlich and Dan Schwalm, Music Kevin Smuts, Matthew Dennis, Tom Foster and Ronan Skillen.

Netflix in association with Off The Fence and The Sea Change Project-Netflix.
85 mins. South Africa. 2020. Rel: 7 September 2020. Available on Netflix. Cert. U.