Interested in the environment, the ocean, or even just the world around you? There is an incredible documentary streaming through National Geographic on Disney + right now. This documentary was directed by Robert Nixon and features world renowned marine biologist, (one of my personal heroes), Sylvia Earle. This documentary is not just for marine life geeks like me. It takes a stunning look at the ocean, the importance of it and how we can help save it. There is also an extremely talented National Geographic photographer featured in this documentary by the name of Brian Skerry. Even Barack Obama makes an appearance in this film!

Plot
This series is centered around establishing the nation’s first underwater national park off of the east coast of Maine. It is fascinating, because although there are many national parks on land and protected sanctuaries on land, there are not any underwater areas that are off limits for poachers, mass fishing fleets, etc. Sylvia Earle, Brian Skerry and a group of young environmentalists set out to explore this area that they want to protect. They explored the wildlife that lives there, the ecosystem and the overall beauty and wonder of life below the surface.

Positive Aspects of the Film

One thing I really liked about this film is that the filmmakers, writers and even Sylvia Earle herself include many groups of people that would not normally be recognized in a film like this. For example, Sylvia Earle does an interview with a small family that lives off of local fishing in Georgia. This is really interesting to me because this family talks about the big fishing corporations overfishing and taking all of the fish from the spots they use. This helps highlight the problem of overfishing and shows us how it affects real people which I really enjoyed. One other aspect of this film is when Sylvia Earle picked a young couple who had never even seen the ocean and took them out to explore and snorkel around this area that they are trying to make a sanctuary. I loved this aspect of the film because it inspired me and could inspire an audience to get out, get involved and explore the ocean. By educating people and inspiring them about the underwater world, we can help people get involved in saving it!

Rating 

I would rate this film a 4.5/5, because I really loved so many aspects about it. The one thing I wish they had more of was a call to action. Tell us how we can help! How can we make this a sanctuary, and how can we help save the planet by saving our ocean? I also wish that the problem of overfishing was touched on a bit more than just grazed over in this film. Overall, I really enjoyed this film and think it is really interesting and beneficial for everyone to watch!

Is This Available to Watch?
This documentary is streaming on Disney +!