My Octopus Teacher (2020)

I vividly remember one summer of many years ago — I was probably in my early teens — when I would spend my mornings watching nature documentaries, and I absolutely adored ocean-related ones. I remember learning about the existence of scorpionfishes and being fascinated by them, just as I was fascinated by every other single sea creature shown in those documentaries. So it really didn't come as a surprise when, a week ago, I sat down to watch the Netflix documentary and now Oscar winner My Octopus Teacher and ended up loving every second of it as it is a stunning, captivating, heartwarming, and moving documentary. 

Directed by Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed, My Octopus Teacher follows filmmaker and naturalist Craig Foster as he dives into a freezing-cold underwater kelp forest near Cape Town, South Africa, where he meets a curious young octopus. 

The sea creature immediately captures Foster's attention and he decides to keep visiting her, tracking her movements every day and see what happens. He keeps diving for a whole year and in the process, he develops a beautiful bond with the wild animal, a bond that allows Foster into her world and shows him how she sleeps, lives, how she hunts and how she protects herself when she becomes the prey of pyjama sharks. 

My Octopus Teacher brings us into the magical, gorgeous, and secret underwater world of an octopus, and delivers a beautiful and emotional tale of an unlikely friendship between a man and a wild animal, a friendship that has its fair share of tender moments and makes it feels as if Foster is not an intruder, a visitor, but a part of the kelp forest itself. All the while, it shows the animal's complex behaviour and extreme intelligence in a very absorbing way. 

The cinematography is absolutely gorgeous — not only it beautifully captures the fascinating underwater world, but it is shot in a way that kind of captures the octopus's soul, and it is very intimate, and it never feels as if the camera — or Foster — is an intruder. The score fits the documentary very well and helps set the right atmosphere, especially in the emotionally devastating parts. 

Yes, My Octopus Teacher is the kind of documentary that will make you cry. A lot. But I can assure you it is worth the trouble as it really is one of the most incredible nature documentaries I've seen — and I couldn't be happier about it winning the Oscar.