Martin Lopez

My one form of criticism really, would be the very beginning of the movie, there was a weak hook. The film started off with shear silence and one single man on a boat talking about his love for coral. Not really much to see, not much to interpret. Had I not been forced to watch the movie I most likely would have simply left the movie and found another. I was already skeptical from the start, the hook helped me not doubt myself. It may sound a little too excessive, but I believe a strong first impression is crucial. What could’ve been done? Use music to their advantage as they did for the rest of the film, shown at least one before and after picture of the reefs, or even talk to the residents around them on their opinion of the reef. But that’s just my opinion. Moving onto what made this movie so great, the persistence of the cast. Throughout the whole movie, a lot of obstacles were given to these men and how they handled each one amazed me. First off, their equipment was too heavy to board the plane, the solution? The crew had to manually whittle the plastic from their equipment until it was light enough, that was creative. Second, once the equipment was in the water, there was water damage. The crew had to start over and try to fix it back at their apartment, these people were already frustrated but never gave up hope. Lastly, once the pictures were shown to the scientists for the first time, all the footage was all blurry and trashed. What these dedicated men did next really astounded me. Worst came to worst, and these men had to manually go underwater and take pictures of 25 locations for the next 40 days. If that’s not dedication, I don’t know what is. We could really see here how important this expedition was for these men. It added an element of emotion which was important to engage the world. “The movie Finding Coral was truly remarkable”-Martin Lopez. Overall I say the movie did a good job completing its task, except for the beginning. I am now aware that our oceans are on a path to no good and the first step to realizing a problem is to admit we have one in the first place.