My Octopus Teacher (2020)

I am working my way through the documentaries that have been short listed for the Academy Awards, and this one, which has been on my radar for quite some time, finally got a screening in our home theater. No popcorn, but rapt attention. I had read Sy Montgomery's memoir about her realationship with an octopus at the Boston Aquarium, so I was prepared for several things, including the idea that octopus are smart and that they are capable of forming relationships with humans. The filmmaker is also the star of the story. He is in a self-described depression when he takes to the ocean near his home on the Atlantic coast of South Africa. There is a kelp bed there that houses a myriad of sea life, and it is there that he meets the octopus. The photography of the underwater world that he spends a year filming and telling us about it stunning, and the story is tender and beautiful. It is an homage not just to octopus and the concept that they are worthy of our attention, but also that the world around us deserves that kind of attention as well. It is both subtle and obvious in its message that conserving and honoring the animals and their habitat is worthy of human attention.