A One Mann’s Movies review of “Ocean With David Attenborough” (2025).
Happy Birthday to Sir David Attenborough, who turned 99-years-old last Friday! And what a way to mark it with the release of this marvellous film, “Ocean”. Attenborough has obviously been a pioneer of presenting incredible nature programmes since the late 1950’s, which stepped up a gear and made him a global name in 2006 with the release of his “Planet Earth” series for the BBC. Since then, he has been the front-man for a range of similar series. As brilliant as he is at what he does, the real stars of course are the nature videographers who spend literally years acquiring those incredible shots that are probably only on screen for a matter of seconds.
Here, with “Ocean” from Altitude Films, he focuses in on one specific topic and delivers some stark messages that simply DEMAND your attention.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
“Ocean With David Attenborough” Plot:
This documentary reviews the world’s oceans and the challenges that they face thanks to man’s over-exploitation of them. But it’s far from all doom, gloom and inevitable demise.
Certification:
UK: PG; US: PG. (From the BBFC web site: “Mild upsetting scenes, injury detail”.)
Talent:
Starring: David Attenborough.
Directed by: Colin Butfield, Toby Nowlan & Keith Scholey.
Running Time: 1h 35m*.
(* The film includes a “making of” film and music video after the main film: I can’t remember if this running time includes that or not.)
“Ocean” Summary:
Positives:
- Some really important messages that the world needs to listen to.
- Astonishing marine wildlife footage.
- A well-balanced film taking you on an arc from despair to hope.
Negatives:
- Overly bombastic music that sometimes drowns the dialogue.
- Some of Attenborough’s script veers a little into the hyperbole.
- What is the call to action?
Review of “Ocean With David Attenborough”:
A trip to the edge of despair.
This film takes you on a real journey. But before you get into any ‘sunlit uplands’ there is a pit of despair that you need to get through. For some of the activities that commercial fisheries get away with ISN’T criminal… but it feels like it certainly should be. In particular, the process of ‘bottom trawling’ – where trawlers basically plow the sea-bed with hooks and chains, capturing anything and everything in their path – is appalling. Cameras placed in the teeth of the nets capture all this in gory detail.
As Attenborough comments, the trawlers are typically after just a single species and 75% (SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT!!!!) of what they catch is dumped (dead, of course) back into the sea. The tracks of destruction that they make are visible from space. And there are 40,000 of them out there, doing this day and night.
It always amuses me (in a black comedy sort of way) that I get so obsessed when I need to euthanise one of my sick pond fish. I’ll carefully prepare a mixture of clove oil and hot water and add it slowly and steadily to the container to gradually send the fish to sleep before I administer the fatal dose. Online forums rage backwards and forwards about the most humane method to use. There’s NONE of that with trawling! As shown in the film, the catch is uncerimoniously dumped on the deck with the fish (and everything else caught) left to suffer agonising asphixia.
Abhorrent actions in Arran.
A particularly striking portion of the film involves the testimonial of a fisherman in the Isle of Arran in Scotland. The film shows what the undersea environment was like a few years back, teeming with life and multiple species. It then shows what it looks like now, after a scallop-trawler ploughed through it: grey, desolate, completely inert. As the Scotsman says, this should surely be illegal… but its not. In fact, Attenborough reports that most government are actively promoting such methods.
In other scenes, the plundering of the Antarctic krill is featured, fundamental to the ecology of the region. What do we use krill for, I hear you ask? Lots of ‘stuff’ it turns out, including pet food. (Don’t you think such products should be labelled as environmentally unfriendly? I do!) In a nicely balanced comment, Attenborough admits that “some people claim that this is sustainable”: but clearly the implication is that many others (Sir David included) think not!
But there IS a way out of this mess.
Just when you start thinking about slashing your wrists, the film pulls a surprising twist. It demonstrates just how adept the world is at “bouncing back”. And the trick to this is simply to do nothing! By creating ‘no take’ zones, such as a huge one off to the west of Hawai’i, nature rebuilds itself in a matter of just a few years. It’s common sense isn’t it? You let the little fish turn into big fish which have a lot more babies and so the population accelerates. You can only assume that, if nature is left to run its unfettered course, that these seas will become like those reported in Newfoundland by early explorers who reported that to catch cod you simply had a throw a bucket over the side of the ship and retrieve it full of fish.
This is an extremely positive and uplifting message that leaves you with a sense of hope.
But what of the film?
But this is supposed to be a film review and I’ve wittered on a lot about the subject (something I genuinely didn’t realise I was so passionate about!) and have said nothing about the film.
The photography is, of course, spectacular. You would expect nothing less from a film with Attenborough’s name on it. The skill and patience required to capture scenes such as huge shoals of fish being picked off by sharks, orcas, etc., or to be swimming ahead of a school of dolphins like that, baffles the mind.
Attenborough as well is filmed wonderfully, both on the coast (at Sandbanks on the Dorset coast, if I’m not mistaken) as well as (what looks like) in his study at home. I sometimes felt his spoken words drifted into hyperbole at times… but as he is passionate about the subject, we can forgive him for that. At one point, Attenborough says “as I approach the end of my life” and the next shot shows him standing on the edge of a very big cliff. I wanted to shout “NO SIR DAVID, DON’T DO IT… WE LOVE YOU!!”. (LOL).
The main downside I had about the film was the music by Oscar-winner Steven Price. Don’t get me wrong: I thought the music was great, and would listen to it again standalone, no problem. But it veers into the bombastic at times. Moreover, I know a lot of people with hearing difficulties have issues with detecting dialogue over loud music, and there were moments in this film in danger of committing that crime.
But what can I do?
Where I think the film could have helped is in providing a clear ‘call to action’ at the end of the film for viewers (like me) who felt that they needed to add their voice to the campaign. The film identifies that the UN Ocean Conference is happening in Nice at the start of next month (June 2025), but gives no indication of how anyone can influence that. Angel Studios (“Sound of Freedom“; “Cabrini“; “The Shift“; “The King of Kings“; etc) are great at adding a QR code to the end titles of their films: this should have done the same, providing locale-specific guidance as to how you can get involved.
What I did was to find out who the UK Minister was responsible for fisheries (Daniel Zeichner) and contact him. I can only imagine the furore among the fishing community if additional restrictions were placed on where and how they could progress their industry (even if in the longer term it was for their own good). So I suspect that blockers to progress at the UN conference will come from politicians looking to protect their arses. As such, I wrote the following email to Mr Zeichner. If you feel strongly about this subject, (and aware that my readership goes right across the globe) then I encourage you to do the research in your country and invoke similar correspondence.
Dear Mr Zeichner,
I’m just a regular member of the public but I feel compelled to write to you after watching David Attenborough’s remarkable new film “Ocean”, which I presume you have also watched given your role as the Minister responsible for UK fisheries.
The rationale for Sir David’s pleas to help protect the oceans and let the environment “bounce back” seem to me to be indisputable. The positive effects for UK fishing would seem to far outweigh and downsides of local restrictions, as demonstrated by the outcomes seen around Hawai’i.
As I assume you, or some of your senior team, will be attending the UN conference in Nice next month, could I urge you to support two key initiatives:
a) a ban (or at least, much stricter controls) on the appallingly destructive process of sea-bed trawling and
b) the requirement, placed into international law, that every ocean facing country should provide 30% of their territorial waters as ‘no take’ zones, with additional protections around selected deep sea stack areas.
Thank you for your consideration of this request.
Cc: my local MP, Caroline Nokes.
Best regards,
Dr Bob Mann,
One Mann’s Movies,
By the way… I sometimes get accused (mostly by Trump supporters, to be fair) of ‘straying from my lane’ as a film critic and “getting political”. If you feel the same way about this ‘review’… then “bite me”… this stuff is important!
Monkeys
Yes, there are “monkeys” after the end credits… two of them. (It’s important you know that, since many people up and left as the credits rolled, probably unaware of the fact, even though there was a written statement at the start of the film.)
The first is a short “making of” film that shows some of the behind the scenes film-making footage, but it spends more of its time on recapping the key points of the film again. However, it did include one piece of fascinating insight: the natives on the shoreline of West Papua actually placed the “No Take” ban on their own immediate waters. This feels like “turkeys voting for Christmas”. But they are already reaping the benefits from the ‘overspill’ effect. This is an important message for ‘protectionist’ political arguments. For that reason, I think it would have been good to put into the main film.
The second is a short ‘music video’ of Coldplay’s “One World” song that features in the movie. It has Chris Martin at his most drone-y I’m afraid, so I wasn’t a great fan.
Summary Thoughts on “Ocean With David Attenborough”
This is a beautiful film. You might say, “it’s a catch”. (Pun intended.) It’s also a VERY important film and it provoked me to take actual political action… something I very, very seldom do! I urge you all to see it. As it had National Geographic as a stakeholder, it will no doubt be streaming on the Disney channel soon. But this is a film that is REALLY worth you watching on the big screen.
Where to Watch it (Powered by Justwatch)
Trailer for “Ocean With David Attenborough”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIZAdCtKT_g.
Subscribe
Don’t forget, you can subscribe to One Mann’s Movies to receive future reviews by email right here. No salesman will call!
