LA Johnson

This movie has gorgeous photography and the little octopus is incredible - just further proof that humans are not the only talented, intelligent creatures on the planet. I stopped watching when Craig Foster clearly demonstrates that he is not a "friend" of the octopus. After tracking it and coaxing it to trust him, claiming that they are "friends," he stands by and allows a shark to brutally rip off one of its legs. Not just bite it off, but rotate it off which had to be torture. Would he have allowed a predator to rip the leg off a dog, cat, human being - or an animal whose screams we could hear? No, but it makes for "good film" footage to watch an animal be brutalized -- only so he could follow her around and record her suffering and survival or death. Is it any wonder that so many creatures avoid human beings? If this film had been a general documentary, giving a glimpse into life under the sea, simply observing the various live creatures and how they interact, that would be different. But you can't claim to have befriended an animal, convinced it to trust you, and then stand by and allow it to be tortured when it ventures out into the open and lets down its guard in response to your invitation. A friend who was watching the movie said, "You can't interefere with nature. That's why he didn't stop the attack." I said, "He is already interfering with nature by going to a place he doesn't belong and convincing wild creatures to trust him, just so he can film them." How is that "natural?" One other observation. I found myself thinking that this documentary was all about the film maker and not about the octopus. He doesn't explain his depression at the beginning of the film, but he is clearly bothered that he is not as "cool" as the men who can track animals in the desert. Perhaps if he had ever been truly hungry, he would have learned how to track an animal for food. But he just wanted to be special. I found him special, but not in the way he wanted. I think he is especially selfish, egotistical and cruel. Even after his little octopus "friend" is brutally attacked, he immediately wondered if it was his fault. Yes, it was.