Probably the most striking aspect of this production is the dazzling underwater photography. It's simply jaw-dropping. Or should I say "Jaws" dropping? Creamy smooth camera movement wraps around brilliantly colored sea creatures in shades and especially quantities you may have never seen prior. The commanding school of hammerhead sharks floating passed like ominous clouds will take your breath away. Truly stunning.

But Sharkwater isn't the typical underwater documentary, in fact, it's much more about a certain two-legged land predator -- uhm, us. In a style more reminiscent of Michael Moore than the local Imax theatre flick, Sharkwater's docudrama-esque story soon enough teams up with Greenpeace. If you're unfamiliar with Greenpeace -- see the film, it'll serve as good an introduction as any. Once on board the Greenpeace vessel, the initial story of a young man and his sharks eventually surfaces as a propaganda picture. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, it's simply the fact of the matter.

Unlike Happy Feet (an excellent animated picture) which also took a twist into similarly creature-conscious waters, Sharkwater goes beyond integrating the philosophy into their production, they squarely compromised the production for the philosophy. Their rhetoric becomes a bit repetitive and speculative. Amidst they're captioned quotes and stats they proclaim, "It has been estimated that the world's shark population has diminished by 90%." I have to ask, "Estimated by whom?" And "With how much unknown data?" And "Just how likely is that estimate to hold water?"

That said… 1) I'm no expert. 2) I more or less agree with them. It is rather disrespectful to life in general to kill any animal just for one small part of it. (The fin, in this case.) 3) Hence, I'm glad for a daring film like this. Perhaps it will cajole minds smarter than mine to find a way to -- at the very least -- salvage the rest of the shark (and other discarded sea animals) to be used to feed the thousands of starving people worldwide.

-- Book Contest --