Shark Water

Hey this look okay...

SHARKWATER

If its as good as the trailer suggests then WOW !!!!!

Can't wait.

Dive safe

DeanB

i saw it when it was projected in antibes at the festival this past autumn and really liked it. there was some impressive footage.

There was also some disturbing footage of shark finning and other associated horrors.

It was quite interesting also to see life on a Sea Shepherd vessel.

I think it's well worth seeing and if it can help educate the non diving population about the threat to sharks...

/

Well it certainly looks awesome, but I see no 'showtimes' for the film in Asia. I left the following message:

I really hope you distribute your film in Asia - where it will count. I live in Singapore and travel extensively in Asia. I have also SCUBA dived across the globe for 36 years and seen the huge decline in shark populations. If the Chinese don't get the message, then sharks are toast (well soup). I'm really looking forward to seeing your film - looks fantastic, but let's hope you are not only preaching to the converted. Best wishes, Nick

I guess if some US sport fishermen see the film it might have a small effect, but the real catastrophe is happening because it is massively more lucrative to fill a fishing boat full of fins rather than shark meat, and it's only more lucrative because of the huge demand by Chinese Restaurants. My worry is that the people who need to see this film actually won't have the desire or maybe even the opportunity

"Sharkwater," which I saw at a recent screening in the U.S., does indeed have some impressive HD footage of sharks and their habitats. But, unfortunately, it also has footage of writer/director/star Rob Stewart communing with sharks in his Speedo. As someone who's studied sharks and followed the shark-finning issue for a long time, I found it odd that Stewart felt it was important to put himself in his film to the extent that he did. (If you find Michael Moore to be obnoxiously omnipresent in his films, Stewart's narcissism will blow you away.) His laconic, monotone narration and testimonials--few sentences don't begin with the word "I," as the Variety review points out--make it sound like he's one of only a handful of heroic human beings who've figured out that sharks are not mindless killers and decided to do something to save them from the Asian shark fin trade. I found this offensive, and I'm sure a lot of hard-working shark biologists and conservationists will be similarly irked that Stewart seems ignorant of their progress in changing millions of people's perception of sharks and accomplishing a great deal (protected status for some species, anti-finning laws, etc.) since the days of "Jaws." It is significant that Stewart features many interviews of Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd staff, while the lone shark biologist featured in the film is Erich Ritter, a behaviorist prone to anthropomorphisms and oversimplifications ("sharks don't want to bite people") and perhaps best known for having his calf ripped off by a large bull shark in the shallows of Walker's Cay. There's footage of an interview with Doc Gruber, but it's taken from a TV show.

It's great that there's now a mainstream documentary that will wake a lot of people up to the shark-finning crisis, but it's too bad this is the film that's being billed to do it. Stewart's self-aggrandizement is so stunning at times that it almost makes satire redundant, and his eagerness to be in physical contact with sharks reminds me Timothy Treadwell in "Grizzly Man." (You assume that he's saying "I love you! I love you! I love you!" to the carcharhinids he's swimming with, only we can't hear him through his rebreather.) Stewart also says things like "For 400 million years, sharks were gods," and suggests that the extinction of sharks could result in depletion of oxygen in our atmosphere. Huh!?

In any event, I'll be really curious to see how people respond to this film. It's got great footage, and Stewart stumbled into an interesting story about the complicity of Central American governments with the Asian shark fin trade. It's just too bad he didn't keep himself out of it.

Boy Daniel, you do know that Manola Dargis is looking for a co host for her version of Siskel and XXX

Not knowing your background, I have to say that you expect too much from a movie. Shakey science, over the top emotional drama are what sells movies. I'll agree any character who shows up too often in the film for no apparent reason can be annoying. But you can say that for any adam sandler movie too. While I too didn't like the movie, you have to give him credit for trying to highlight a global problem.

I agree with you, Drew, that good things (awareness, political action, legislation) can be inspired by bad works of art. I thought "March of the Penguins" was similarly polluted with anthropomorphism, and I hate that it ended up being a "family values" movie that conservative Christians could latch onto (when, that is, they're not bashing science and characterizing Darwin as a racist fraud). But obviously it can't hurt to have twenty million people interested in penguins and Antarctica.

I just couldn't believe that Stewart chose as the climax of his film a freediving session between himself (in a Speedo) and some Cocos Island sharks, as though his very presence among them was somehow beneficial to shark conservation. Equally bizarre was his statement that he has to lower his heartbeat to 40 bpm so that the sharks will not be scared of him. Such talk really reminded me of "Grizzly Man," with the lone surfer-dude hero aching to get close to large predators that might not "want" to bite him but nonetheless have a history of doing so. And unfortunately the reverence for Paul Watson and the explicit approval of Watson's proclivity for sinking ships will make a lot of people label this film as the work of just another quasi-militant eco warrior.

Anyhow, I'll stop now. When the film hits the theaters (April for Canada; autumn in the U.S.) I'll try to remember to take a sedative before I peruse any forums where the film will surely be discussed.

Well Daniel

I think that sequence was a bit of a "le Grande Bleu" homage. I'm quite sure that Sea Shepard would not have let him on the boat if he didn't feature them significantly. Funny I had this conversation with someone who was in Costa Rica in the mid 90s about this exact problem of Sea Shepard being overly militant. Still they have been effective in protecting Galapagos and other places. It's by sensationalizing the problem that the public pays attention. Unfortunately it cuts both ways and the world is often about spin. Big money buys a lot of clout and opinion. Plus people in general tend to want to be oblivious to problems they feel they can't control.

I think this film may increase awareness in the general population about sharks and their exploitation. This could be true for the Americas and perhaps Europe. However I am concerned that in Asia it will come accross as bravado....the westerners telling the Asians how to run their lives. This could actaully set back progress.

The best we could hope for is increased public awareness in the western world resulting in more political pressure on bodies such as CITES to list more sharks as endangered. The worst would be increased resistance in Asia changing their ways. Since Asian demand is the real issue here, perhaps a more culturally appropriate film featuring prominant Asian's (scientists, sports figures, politicians) might be more effective for that market.

I paid to see the movie this past Saturday. There weren't a lot of folks in the seats, but what do you want for a Saturday Afternoon matinee.

Yes, it was self agrandizing, yes, it did prominently feature the Sea Sheppard and yes, there are a number of other potential issues with the movie. But it is good entertainment and it is good positive propaganda for shark conservation. And he is better looking than Michael Moore.

One interesting aside, the movie must have started on a low budget and as interest in the project grew you could see that more money must have come into the production. How? the changing quality of the film. At times, very low quality, at times it looks like it was filmed on HD or 35mm film. This is something that you would not normally see in a commercial project. On the idiot box you might not see the changing technology, on the 40 foot screen I saw it on, everything shows.

The sound is good too, though I miss the sound of the scuba gear underwater.

Makes me wish I was diving, not sitting at work looking out the window.

It would be interesting to know how "Sharkwater" was funded along its five-year journey. There are several other Stewarts listed in the production credits.

As for the variation of film quality, I think it's just a matter of using lots of different sources that were on different film and video media. Some of the u/w footage was borrowed from elsewhere. The montage sequence of white-tip reef sharks ganging up on a lone parrotfish at night (while the Stewart and the ecowarriors are being rounded up by Costa Rican police) looks like the footage from Blue Planet, IIRC. And I think a lot of the bloody shark-finning footage must have been borrowed from a variety of sources, as it’s unlikely that Stewart ever rode on a commercial longliner. The HD camera was rented from New England Aquarium. There's TV footage of Doc Gruber, clips of stuff with Vic Hislop and some other Aussie guy who hates sharks, old US Navy training footage... All in all, lots of sources, lots of different media.

I have seen this and the film speaks to the dramatic places Rob put himself into. The fin message is the most important- Im sure the Director/ Producer added the thrills and the sickness scenes.

I have to add a caveat. I have just finished a documentary Sharks: Stewards fo the Reef which is a more traditional science based documentary, with a focus on overfishing, bycatch and shark finning as well as the economic forces. The trailer synopsis etc are on www.sharkstewards.com

Im a little jealous fo Rob for the Costa Rica experience. I went to CR but after he did and I was excluded from anywhere near the docks with a camera, even hidden.

But- I got to dive the Tuamotus-- islands that had been fished and unfished for sharks and the NWHI.

We are screening in film festivals- tonight in the appropriately named Tiburon Film Festival.

Go to the site and sign the petition to ban finning and the distribution of shark fins by alibaba.com/

Im the author of the petition that is in this forum below.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/400108473

I saw Sharkwater yesterday. Some of it I liked, some was a bit annoying (same things mentioned above). The Sea Shepard connection is one that could dampen some people's enthusiam, as Watson is seen by some of the public (here, anyway) as a vigilante. The film is getting a lot of Canadian media attention: Rob was interviewed on CBC television Saturday night about the production, for example. What I found most impressive was the attitude of my students (80% are of Asian descent) today. They wanted to know if I had seen it; many expressed a desire to go. I am sure they had no idea that it was even a documentary, and were expecting a "Jaws" type flick. We had a chat about shark fin soup (I've been on a bit of a soap box about it lately with staff and students), and suggested they should take their parents. One girl was surprised that "other cultures" don't eat sharkfin soup. I relayed a bit about the film, and they seemed even more eager to see it. If it gets these kids talking to their parents (who purchase shark fin soup whenever there is a wedding or special occasion), about this crisis in our oceans, then hey, a few scenes with the Speedo's tolerable. As for funding, I noticed the same names a few times in the credits. I assumed some relatives kicked in. Many of us have had financial support for our endeavours. Looks like the Canuck government kicked in some cash (we do try, albeit inadequately, to support the arts here). That money probably came in after the production was complete. Probably doubtful that funding would have come through from traditional channels, so good on him for getting some attention, even if is isn't a thoroughly scientifically based movie. It's not designed to convert the converted; we need to keep the purpose in perspective.

Cheers,

Marli

i got mine yesterday and i thought that it was an excellent film. i was not expecting it to be anything like that, i thought it would be another dvd that was just showing the marine life around galapagos and cocos. what ever peoples views are on the sea shepherd, i feel that they are doing a good job, abeit with a bit of muscle which sometimes might not be appropriate. rob stewart presentation was first class, the footage was very good and it was getting the message across loud and clear. my mother in law is a primary school teacher and she has taken the dvd's that i have made into school to show the young kids what are oceans are full of. i will give her my copy of sharkwater this weekend so that she can show the kids exactly why it is so important to protect our oceans.

anyone that can get this message across in a way that is not down your throat IMO is doing a great job.

i cant wait to see rob stewarts next film

I bought the DVD too as I missed it during its very limited public release here in the UK. I bought the book too. Yes, its good propaganda and will serve in some measure to mitigate the plight of the sharks. But I suspect I'll watch the film only once and the book has remained unthumbed...

Saw the movie, bought the book and had Rob sign it at one of his release parties. The book has some very nice pictures in it. Its a little hard to read - you have to either read the photo captions or the text, but not both since he basically stuffs they entire book into the picture captions.

He is a very nice guy and I've loaned out my copy of the DVD to people just to get the message out that sharks are not the "eating machine" to be feared.

I did a piece for the Swedish version of Outside and Norwegian 'Dykking' with my girlfriend (who is a freelance reporter) on Rob and his film when he visited Sweden. Something I can tell, is that the movie took more than five years to finish. He was only 23 years old when he started shooting, and it didn't turn out as anything he had planned because of all the stuff happening along the way. I guess adding Paul Watson in front of a camera into the equation, is begging for 'action' to happen. Perhaps when you're 23 you're not able to do the math... At least I wasn't at that age.

Anyway I think it turned out very interesting and emotionally grasping. The timing was just perfect with the climate debate etc.

In my opinion Rob did a great job and I actually like that he appears a lot in the movie, because it makes it very personal. It becomes the story about a young man who loves sharks, finds out that they are threatened and tries to do something about it'. A simple but effective plot. Otherwise it would just have been a story about sharks in danger... Not that intersting.

cheers

Christian

I just saw the 2007 documentary SHARK WATER which is about the illegal poaching of sharks for their fins, especially in the COCOS islands and the Galapagos. Although the content is quite sad, the documentary is excellent. If you have not seen it, I would highly recommend that you do so.