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Sharkwater Alliance Atlantis 89min NR A documentary by Rob Stewart Paul Watson Boris Worm  Rob
Stewart loves sharks. Not that way!...um…maybe it IS that way. One
of the first shots in this feature is of him in his scuba gear
holding one and petting it while it just sits there like a pussy cat
on his lap. One wonders how he managed to do that. This is a man
obsessed, and he admits it. His mission in life is to tell the world
that all sharks, be they great whites or nurses are completely
harmless and wouldn't hurt anyone. While it's true that more people
are killed by elephants than sharks, it's also true that elephants
are considered giant rats in many parts of Africa. Using old US government training films, he tries to prove that fear and hatred of sharks is a form of bigotry akin to that against Jews and Blacks and then goes on with footage he shot himself how beautiful the entire class Chondrichthyes truly is. That part is really cool. Stewart is a gifted cinematographer, and he manages to get some weird and interesting people to interview, like a representative of the Shark fin soup industry and some very loud Australians. They even make Greenpeace founder Patrick Moore look positively sane. But pretty pictures and strident advocacy can only take one so far, so he joins up with eco-terrorist and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society founder Paul Watson, who, Stewart claims, has been invited by the President of Costa Rica himself to patrol the seas around Cocos Island in the Pacific and make sure those nasty long line fishermen [who, sadly, really are]don't poach the wildlife out of existence. But while in Guatemalan waters, our merry band comes across a fishing boat pulling in the lines in question and with Stewart filming, Watson and company confront them, and the fishermen radio in a distress call, which gets Stewart, Watson and company in deep trouble when they get to Costa Rica, and Stewart, on the sly, manages to get footage of huge illegal sharkfin soup factories, which are the cause of the population of the entire biological class Chondrichthyes to be reduced to a mere ten percent of what it was a decade ago. This is exiting stuff, to be sure, but one wonders why Watson didn't get official authorization to protect himself and his people legally before going on his mission south. It seems, if you'll forgive the pun, rather fishy. There is a happy denouement of sorts, but footage of de-finned sharks being thrown back still alive is pretty gross, but I guess that's the point. The film does what it's supposed to, inspire outrage. But still, Jaws will never have the appeal of those baby pandas. Go to List of New Reviews Go to Index Archives of past reviews
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