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Reviewed By Nicole Michealson Netflix in association with Diamond Docs/True Blue Films, 94 minutes Directed and Produced by Fisher Stevens and Robert Nixon The film Mission Blue is a documentary focusing on the oceanographer Sylvia Earle and her many decades exploring life in the water. It then leads to her alarming discovery of the negative impact human life has had on the ocean in the span of her lifetime. We are taken back into Earle’s past as an oceanographer from her Tektite I and Tektite II missions, to breaking the record as the first female to go below 1,250 feet in the JIM suit, becoming chief scientist of NOAA, leading the Sustainable Seas Expedition, and finally promoting her idea of Mission Blue. As we go from past to present through her life, we see many shocking changes that the ocean has faced as humans continued evolving new technologies and materials. Mission Blue is a new project that spreads awareness of the damages that have wiped out 50% of the coral reefs and killed all by 5% of sharks in a span of 60 years, but what simple things we can do to stop the damage from continuing. Mission Blue takes us through the eyes of Sylvia Earle’s life as a marine biologist to all the unexplored life that lives below us, and looking back at those same spots 60 years later to see the changes. We see in her earlier years the successes she has had with the ocean. We see that Earle's whole life is surrounded by the ocean, bringing her field work to her house to analyze many different species. It also showed us the influence she had on society, from breaking gender barriers from being the only women on some explorations, discovering many different types of seaweed and fish, and being the face of the new revolution of protecting the ocean. As we view the underwater world from her eyes, we see how many exotic unexplored things lie at the bottom, and how much more we have yet to discover.
However, as we continue to look through her eyes, we get to see the destruction caused by the growth in human development. We see the devastation of Earle's backyard, the Gulf of Mexico, as the largest oil spill demolishes all life around the area. We see marine life get wiped from their homes as oil and mining companies interrupt their areas. Not only that, we see entire species go extinct from many fishing boats overfishing certain species. All the areas Sylvia Earle explored decades before are nothing like the entrancing sites she once saw. Mission Blue does an amazing job capturing Sylvia Earle's life by fitting the camerawork for each decade we view. From the choppy sepia filter look we see during her childhood years by the ocean, to the crisp detailed look of present day Sylvia Earle and the ocean. We are presented with breathtaking views of the beautiful scenery and creatures that Sylvia and other marine biologists get to see. Sadly, we also get graphic images of giant fishing boats slaughtering tens of thousands of fish each day, oil companies drilling into the homes of many creatures, and oil spills and explosions instantaneously destroying the habitats of even more. The camerawork makes us feel like we are one out of many fish that are being affected by these changes. This film does a great job bringing the message straight to the viewer's eyes and bringing in unsettling emotions to them. The production does this very well with the very specific music they have for each scene. During the suspenseful scenes of Earle's many discoveries, we hear loud and on edge music provided by a symphony orchestra. During the more upbeat times of viewing the spectacular world below us, we hear tranquil and upbeat music that fits each of the scenes almost perfectly. And especially during the more devastating scenes, we hear beautiful yet tear-jerking music that brings the pain to not only our eyes but ears. The film not only brings great beauty to our eyes and ears but fits it in a nice chronological and organized order. Each scene was placed thoughtfully in each place to give us new perspectives most of us would not have recognized. Along with Sylvia, we see the changes in the life underwater just like she did through her direct observations. We get a view on what professional marine biologist have witnessed that most of society does not get to see on the surface of the ocean. We get to see the wide range of beauty the underwater world has, how many exotic and unexplored things there is left for us to explore, and the sad reality of the damages our technological era has caused to it. The purpose of Mission Blue was to lure us into one of the most beautiful sights on the planet, and then flood us with guilt as we witness how we destroy it. This film brings us in by showing us individual and unique non-human animals, and then crushes us by watching them suffer in oil spills, explosions, and other man-made reasons. It shows us data of how many species we are killing to extinction and how many species are already extinct. Then it dives deeper to show us how much in total we’ve already destroyed, and what the future will look like if it continues. Mission Blue, however, gives us a straightforward and easy start to change this. Mission Blue itself is a project that spreads awareness of the impact we have left not only our ocean with, but the non-human animals living inside of it. The solution is the idea created by Sylvia Earle: Hope spots. Hope spots are like national parks that are found in many places on land, but instead they are in water. Currently, 12% of land is protected, but less than 6% of the ocean is protected. Hope spots would prevent oil rigs, fishing, or any other harmful man-made technologies from effecting these environments. One example that has proved successful is the Hope Spot in Cabo Pulmo, where citizens there took back the land from tourists and fishing industries. Tourists and fishing industries left it barren with no life left, but after several years life began to prosper again. Mission Blue wants more of the ocean protected to save many species from extinction, bring back coral reefs, and protect the thing that gives us life itself. Mission Blue is a film for those who passionate about the underwater world, but it also a film to give a message to everyone about how we are destroying it. It captures the natural underwater world most people do not frequently get to see and fills us with guilt as we watch what us humans have done to it without even knowing. I think it is crucial that everyone gets to see a film, or a film like this, because it really puts into perspective how we treat the world that has given us life. If you want to watch this film, it is easily accessible through Netflix. Author Bio: Nicole Michealson is a freshman at Minnesota State University- Mankato. Nicole is in the RISEBio learning community and is currently majoring in zoology. She is passionate about non-human animals, and the environments they live in. Comments are closed.
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