My Octopus Teacher

My Octopus Teacher outshines all other natural-science documentaries. Even if it were merely an undersea documentary about an octopus and a person’s friendship with it, it would stand out due to the variety of situations experienced throughout the film and its unique educational value. Thanks to the filmmaker’s good-heartedness and sincerity, the viewer is not just told and shown the facts, but becomes a co-discoverer of them. However, My Octopus Teacher is something much more in its emotional impact, thematic complexity and interconnectedness with the life of the documentarian. If Alex Honnold could take the last Oscar for best documentary due to the strength of the human spirit in climbing, now that honor should go to Craig Foster for his depiction of the fragile relationship between two extremely different species and his poetic description of the unifying parallels of their life journeys. (27/10/2020)

This is a fragile and completely unique documentary about an unexpected friendship between a curious cephalopod and a burnt-out filmmaker who spent most of his life with him while daily diving. The film is an original, emotional and sometimes thrilling connection between the world of people and the world of animals, finding unifying parallels in the lives of both protagonists and casually encouraging understanding of nature from a completely different point of view. (04/01/2021)

When I recently watched the series Animals, it was the Octopus that intrigued me the most, hiding many secrets under their omnivorous tentacles. My Octopus Teacher doesn't rely on its visual sophistication, as is often the case with animal documentaries, but tries to engage with content instead of form. We follow two life journeys – human and cephalopod – where the latter takes on a very fatal quality given that the lifespan of octopuses is not very long. At times, I did feel that Craig Foster was pushing his feelings too hard and projecting his disposition too "violently" onto his eight-headed "buddy", but on the other hand, you cannot deny his genuine passion for what he does. Octopuses are truly admirable creatures – be it their intelligence, their wit, their mimicry, the way they hunt, or their fatal dedication to their offspring. (26/11/2022)

The most surprising documentary in my life. It's been a few days since I saw the film and I still have that warm feeling it evoked in me. I’m recommending it to everyone. An incredible caress to the soul. The last time I was this moved was maybe in 2011 with Intouchables. I’ve always loved octopi... on a plate, but now I can’t imagine myself eating one ever again! For the first time in my life I'm thinking about vegetarianism, and so far no film has managed to do that – even videos from slaughterhouses or factory farms have failed to have any effect on me, and yet this film doesn't even push the idea that eating animals is wrong. How is it possible? Because this documentary has a heart, it doesn't offer much in terms of science, just heart, love and respect for animals and nature. For me, just wow! (21/04/2021)

I don’t care at all its shortcomings as a documentary (i.e. sweet sentimentality), the only type of person who can not like this is someone whose heart was stolen in grade school and never got it back. Unprecedented, beautifully shot and proving that the connection of ugly people with beautiful nature is possible. (15/01/2021)