It’s a tale as old as time – disillusioned with his mundane existence, a modern-day man goes in search of novelty and finds that and more in the most unexpected place.
Why the Octopus?
We’ve long borne an unbridled fascination with the Ocean and its murky depths. It’s a fascinating environment filled with unexplained mysteries and strange water-breathing creatures.
It’s a mystique that perfectly matches the not-so-humble octopus. This soft-bodied mollusc roams the waters bearing most of its brain in its arms, has no skeleton but yet it can appear in solid form at a whim. The octopus is so unique and bizarre it seems to have evolved on an entirely different planet, never mind in an underwater world quite apart from ours.
My Octopus Teacher gives a deeper, albeit fleeting look into the whims of this eight-legged wonder.
Fact and Fantasy
The man at the center of the action is budding naturalist and film maker, Craig Foster. Suffering from career exhaustion and depression, Foster starts out searching for adventure by free-diving into Cape Town’s offshore kelp forest.
In his explorations, he stumbles upon an innocuous looking jumble of shells lying on the ocean floor. Before long the anomaly reveals itself as a common octopus. Foster starts to follow this creature in order to study ‘her’ behavior, but he gains some insights into his own life at the same time.
There’s no doubt that My Octopus Teacher brings some dazzling and interesting footage to light, but the main gist of the story is Foster’s own journey, which he narrates in an emotive, highly personal fashion.
Despite Foster’s budding ‘relationship’ with his new friend, he reveals factual and captivating insights into octopus behavior along the way.
In the process of revealing the octopus’s daily struggles and creative efforts to survive, he unwittingly drives home the impression that the creature exists as a living entity with a mind and destiny of its own.
For some, My Octopus Teacher, may seem too sentimental or not factual enough, while for others this unlikely relationship is a reminder of the fragility of life. If Foster manages to create one iota of regard for the ocean and all of its creatures in the meantime, he can congratulate himself on a job well done.
You can catch My Octopus Teacher on Netflix and make your own call or book a trip to Cape Town and immerse yourself in an underwater nirvana of your own.
