Sharkwater

Synopsis: Sharkwater - The Story "An eye-opening film...visually stunning... this movie will change the way you see our oceans." - Bonnie Laufer, Tribute Magazine For filmmaker Rob Stewart, exploring sharks began as an underwater adventure. What it turned into was a beautiful and dangerous life journey into the balance of life on earth. Driven by passion fed from a life-long fascination with sharks, Stewart debunks historical stereotypes and media depictions of sharks as bloodthirsty, man-eating monsters and reveals the reality of sharks as pillars in the evolution of the seas. Filmed in visually stunning, high definition video, Sharkwater takes you into the most shark rich waters of the world, exposing the exploitation and corruption surrounding the world's shark populations in the marine reserves of Cocos Island, Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. In an effort to protect sharks, Stewart teams up with renegade conservationist Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. The
Genre: Documentary
Director(s): Rob Stewart
Production: Freestyle Releasing
  13 wins & 3 nominations.
 
IMDB:
8.0
Metacritic:
59
Rotten Tomatoes:
79%
PG
Year:
2006
89 min
Website
2,451 Views


For as long as I can remember...

...I've been drawn to sharks.

They're the most amazing

and mysterious animal on Earth.

I thought if I studied them,

I could learn about life.

About balance in the ocean

and how to survive on Earth.

That the one animal

that we fear the most...

...is the one we can't live without.

Predator of the sea...

...terror of all men

who enter the ocean...

...the very symbol

of lurking danger:

That is the shark.

What is he really?

We know little,

except the shark was here...

...before the continents

took their present form...

...before the dinosaur lived,

and he is still here...

...essentially unchanged.

One of the oldest living things

on Earth.

How has the shark survived...

...when almost all that lived

in the beginnings...

...has either perished or changed?

Man must know all there is to know

about this enemy.

Whether the shark

is really an enemy.

If he is...

...how to protect against him.

If he isn't...

...how to live with him.

You're told your whole life,

since you're a kid...

...sharks are dangerous.

You're warned about venturing

too far into the ocean...

...but then finally

you're underwater...

...and you see the thing

you were taught...

...your whole life to fear,

and it's perfect...

...and it doesn't want to hurt you...

...and it's the most beautiful thing

you've ever seen...

...and your whole world changes.

Ever since I was little,

I've loved the ocean.

Like many kids,

I tried fishing...

...but realized I was much happier

swimming with fish than catching them.

Sharks were my favourite animals

on Earth...

...but all I'd heard about...

...was how dangerous they were.

I hated being afraid

and realized the only way...

...to find out the truth about sharks

was to meet one for myself.

I became

an underwater photographer...

...and a biologist...

...and from that point on,

I followed sharks.

So little is known

about what they really are...

...and how important they are

to life on Earth.

Two-thirds of the world's surface

is water...

...and over 80/ of life on Earth...

...lives in the ocean.

I learned to dive

so I could get close to sharks...

...but photographing sharks

was harder than I thought.

They're so afraid of us.

Sharks can see us

with more than their eyes.

They can sense our energy...

...and they viewed me as a threat.

Sharks have been here

for more than 400 million years...

before the dinosaurs...

...when life had just begun on land.

There was little oxygen

in the atmosphere...

...and only two continents.

Sharks were shaping this world.

Life on Earth

evolved from the sea.

The first animals were tiny,

single-celled organisms...

...that gave rise to algae, coral...

...and tiny planktonic animals.

More invertebrates followed,

including squids and mollusks.

One of the first vertebrates

with jaws...

...and the only large animal

that's remained unchanged...

...for 400 million years...

...is the shark.

New animals to evolve in the ocean

have been shaped by their predators...

...the sharks...

...giving rise to schooling behaviour...

...camouflage, speed,

size and communication.

Sharks control

the populations below them...

...eliminating species

that were easy prey...

...and creating new ones.

Even though sharks

have very few young...

...and take up to 25 years

to reach sexual maturity...

...they've managed to survive

through five major extinctions...

...that wiped most life

from the planet.

They're architects of our world.

Most of what people

know about sharks...

...they've heard from the media.

The more time I spent with sharks...

...the more I realized that they're

nothing like what we're told.

They are perfect predators...

...that hold the underwater world

in balance...

...the lions and tigers of the seas.

I spent so much time underwater...

...so I could gain their trust...

...and get close enough

to film them.

Everything moved together...

...lived together...

...and died with a purpose.

This shark and his relatives...

...are long-established

enemies of man.

He is a wicked,

unpredictable opponent.

If sharks are in the area...

...you can repel them with sounds...

...by striking the surface of the water...

...with your cupped hand.

Or you can shout underwater.

Among the visual methods

of preventing attacks...

...are directing a stream of bubbles...

...from your life preserver

in his direction.

Tearing up paper

into small pieces...

...and scattering them...

...all around the raft.

If a shark threatens to attack you

or damage the raft...

...do not try to shoot or knife him.

Chances are you would only

slightly injure and infuriate him.

Remember...

...his front end

is practically all mouth.

Once in your raft...

...stay there and remain quiet.

Remember that as a human being...

...you are smarter than a shark,

if you use your head.

Elephants kill more people

each year than sharks do...

...so there's some deep-seated

psychological revulsion...

...about a cold-eyed monster

coming out of the deep...

...and picking you to pieces,

but that is the myth, not the reality.

It's weird that white sharks

have such a bad reputation...

...because they really hardly bite.

If we go into the statistics,

they are not the ones...

...who bite the most.

Definitely not.

And it's very hard, actually,

to approach a white shark.

It's much easier to repel him

than to actually lure him in...

...bring him in,

and then trying to interact.

So I think the main reason

why people are still afraid...

...of a white shark

is based on the movie Jaws...

...and the misconception

is still floating around.

And I think a big part

of the media still tries...

...to present the white shark

as Jaws.

Three people were hurt Saturday

in another shark attack.

Time magazine is calling

it the "Summer of the Shark. "

And of course the question

being asked by some is:

When will it be safe

to return to the water?

We love to have a monster,

we love to hate. So...

And it's not good television...

...if, you know, this monster

that we presented all these years...

...actually is a very shy, hesitant animal...

...that has a hard time,

like any other animal as well.

So we like to have the monster...

...and that's why

it's still portrayed this way.

I was on an assignment...

...photographing

the Galapagos Islands...

...in the middle of the Pacific...

...in total isolation...

...from the rest of the world.

It's a world heritage site...

...full of species

found nowhere else on Earth.

This is where Charles Darwin...

...developed his theory of evolution.

What I believe

is the whole planet was like this.

I think animals

were amazingly abundant;

I think whales

were amazingly abundant...

...fish were amazingly abundant;

turtles, birds, everything...

...before man got in there...

...and really hacked

the whole thing to pieces.

I travelled 160 miles

from the centre of the Galapagos...

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