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)

Okay, I suspected I might fall into the category of individuals who could theoretically be moved to tears by the life story of an octopus, but I'm still surprised at how much I've come to relate to it. A beautifully filmed, perfectly wonderful story. The underwater world is absolutely fascinating and humanity still knows so little about it. One of the most beautiful and moving documentaries I've ever seen. (30/11/2020)

An immensely sensitively filmed documentary that, against the backdrop of an almost intimate relationship between a person with their heart in the right place and an incredibly intelligent octopus, brings to the lay public the secrets and beauties of the kelp forest world off the shores of South Africa. I fell in love with the octopus in the opening minutes and, accompanied by a commentary led by Craig Foster's voice and pleasant music, I couldn't get enough of the images from her harrowing life journey until the very moving end. I think Craig Foster deserves respect and reverence for his boundless love of nature, which he leads his son to share. (100%) (02/04/2021)

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)