Do yourself a favor and watch My Octopus Teacher, a recent addition to Netflix. It's one of the most incredible and touching documentaries I've ever seen. Truly an exquisite work of art. As I watched it, I felt a wide range of emotions. I laughed, gasped, got choked up. I forgot my phone existed.
In 2010, the renowned nature filmmaker Craig Foster started free diving in the icy, brutal ocean waters off the Western Cape of South Africa. He was suffering from debilitating burnout and adrenal fatigue and was desperate for "radical change" — but unsure what shape it might come in. Then it arrived in the form of a speckled, eggplant-hued octopus. After their first encounter — both of them under the sea, she so expertly camouflaged beneath a pile of abandoned shells that even the surrounding fish were perplexed — he was so mesmerized that he resolved to visit her every day. The resulting Netflix original documentary, My Octopus Teacher, chronicles the yearlong relationship between man and cephalopod.
My Octopus Teacher could have easily joined the bloated canon of creative works by men who decide to rediscover their purpose by connecting with the rugged natural world. But it falls into no such trap. Instead, the film captures one of the most touching accounts of interspecies friendships ever to grace the world…
screengrab via Netflix
