Coming to theatres and available on Netflix today, Friday, August 15: MISSION BLUE
Robert Nixon and Fisher Stevens’ portrait of the life and work of oceanographer/activist Sylvia Earle debuted at Santa Barbara at the beginning of the year. It has gone on to screen at Hot Docs, Ashland, Martha’s Vineyard, Traverse City, and DC’s Environmental fest, among others.
At once an engaging portrait of Earle, the sorry state of our oceans, and her plan to protect them, Nixon and Stevens film is a stunningly photographed immersion into the undersea realm and its wonders. Using the acclaimed scientist’s current project – the creation of government-protected marine recovery zones – as a focus upon which to tell the larger story of her pioneering career, the filmmakers reveal how the still-vibrant septuagenarian challenged gender barriers throughout her career, which included extended undersea living experiments, leading the first all-female aquanaut team, designing deep-sea research submarines, and serving as the first female chief scientist at the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration. Earle is the bright spot in the film, which otherwise offers sobering information about the damages wrought by mankind through poor stewardship and environmental accidents, resulting in troubling aquatic dead zones which threaten the future of our oceans. Where the film goes woefully wrong, unfortunately, is in the inclusion of co-director and utterly superfluous on-screen co-star and narrator, Fisher Stevens. While the actor is a noted marine lover, having produced the influential Oscar-winning documentary THE COVE, his visible presence here is an unnecessary distraction that should have been rethought.
what (not) to doc 