Movie Review - My Octopus Teacher (2020)

[Dave Gray]

My Octopus Teacher (2020)

Premise: A South African man trying to reset a life off-track returns to his childhood roots, to free dive in the kelp forest, where he finds a precocious octopus that he decides to visit every day of its life.

Rating: Oddly riveting and moving.

I saw this documentary two days ago, but I can't stop thinking about it.  If it has a weakness, it's that the human's story of whatever drove him to get into the water into the first place -- whatever demons he was fighting -- wasn't well defined or, IMO, particularly resolved.  It's kinda introduced at the start that he was in a bad place, but that's really as far as it goes.  This act of free diving like his youth was somehow invigorating and he was able to find parallels to his personal healing to the life of this octopus.  Sometimes those connections are a little thin, but whatever.

On its face, this is a pretty straightforward nature documentary, except its just about a quirky, singular creature.  I think this movie is as good as it is, because it's able to have a roller-coaster of emotions tied to that one idea.  There is legitimate tension, joy, sadness, and excitement.  For a movie about an octopus that lives in a hole, it certain does bring out a lot of emotion in the viewer.

They show this creature's personality, you get to see it grow, trust, be afraid, learn, play.  It is simultaneously a lesson on how smart, unique, and amazing an octopus (or maybe just THIS octopus) is, while also being about the larger theme of a human finding a way to connect to nature.

There are some interesting ethical questions that I personally struggle with in nature films -- you want to help animals in peril, but you don't want to get involved in the natural balance, either.  And there is something to be said about the beauty of natural things, even when they are brutal.

My 8 year old daughter is sometimes hard to pin down for movies -- she really took to this.  Something about how it was done, she was engaged the entire time.  I think the story and pace unfolded at a race that worked for her.  The movie isn't very long and it isn't pushing a narrative that you need to follow.  You're ultimately watching a guy snorkel with an octopus while he talks about his life, his experiences, and his feelings about it.

I can pretty safely recommend this to anyone who likes nature films of any kind.

[ArtieChokePhin]

This made me think of a huge example of how men and women are wired differently in their brains.  The way they behave when they are depressed or are battling demons. 

Women tend to hole up in their houses/bedrooms.  Men go to more natural places with no one around.  In other words, they tend to go into "the wild".  That's what this guy is doing. 

[Dave Gray]

Not sure if you saw this movie, but maybe I just wasn't playing close attention.

The guy seems pretty together.  I think he was just lost in his life, but they don't go into it.  I don't know if he was depressed, unmotivated, or what.  They kinda gloss over it and really don't return to that idea.

Anyone who has seen this -- what was your takeaway of that plot point?