Big Picture Big Sound

The Film

Canadian underwater filmmaker, photographer, and biologist Rob Stewart set out in 2002 to make a film -- his very first -- about sharks, with the modest aspiration of, to paraphrase, capturing some pretty pictures and debunking some of the myths about sharks as gruesome killing machines. He hoped, at the very least, to enlighten some people along the way.

From the outset, things didn't work out as planned for Stewart, as he expresses in this disc's "Making of" featurette. His primary difficulty was the fact that he was a first time filmmaker. No one wanted to fund his project, lest he be unable to come back with a compelling underwater documentary. Let's face it, getting behind a novice can lead to disastrous consequences for all parties involved, and there is certainly no dearth of shark documentaries.

Stewart would not be swayed however; such was his love of sharks and his desire to ultimately conquer all fear that had been instilled in him, as with most people, from the time he was a child. So, off he went to shoot his documentary, filled with "pretty" underwater images of sharks and other tranquil pictorials of marine life. Rob Stewart's images bespeak his experience as an underwater photographer. Everything is captured with a delicacy and intimacy that only someone completely at home in their surroundings could accomplish.

Stewart noticed, however, that places where once he would find an abundance of sharks with which he could swim and photograph were now nearly desolate. The sharks were disappearing and no one was questioning why; no one cared. So Stewart sought out the one person he knew would have an interest, Captain Paul Watson, founder of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and a founding director of the Greenpeace Foundation.

Paul Watson's SSCS is one of the most infamous and militant conservationist groups in the world. The group have an open policy of direct and often violent confrontation with illegal poachers and have been known to sink whaling ships. Directly confronting crews that are longlining (fishing with hundreds or even thousands of hooks off a single line) and shark-finning (cutting fins off live sharks and tossing the rest back into the ocean to die), the SSCS sails under a Jolly Roger and proudly refer to themselves as eco-pirates.

Rob Stewart joined the crew of the SSCS on their ship, the Ocean Warrior, for its journey to Cocos Island, Costa Rica. Cocos is a national park, World Heritage site, and one of only two sanctuaries for sharks in the world (the other being the Galápagos). SSCS was invited there on an invitation by the president of Costa Rica himself to help protect the sharks from illegal finning, which the government had no means to stop on its own.

The film takes an incredible turn as the crew of the Ocean Warrior encounter a Costa Rican ship with no permit in Guatemalan waters illegally long line fishing and shark finning. They are asked by the Guatemalan authorities to escort the ship back to shore and a battle ensues between the two crews involving water cannons, and ship ramming, until eventually the Costa Rican crew relents, but the victory is temporary. SSCS is informed that there are gunboats after them, so they leave and head to Costa Rica, where the authorities ultimately arrest them, charge them with attempted murder, and place them under house arrest.

Rob Stewart is told by a local environmentalist that there are private docks controlled by the Taiwanese mafia where shark finning is taking place (even though sharks are protected in Costa Rica) and that this is perhaps the real reason why SSCS members were being arrested, yet the poachers were being allowed to roam free. So he breaks house arrest and sneaks into the docks, only to uncover a vast network of clandestine shark finning works and be chased out by gun-wielding workers. The crew take off in the Ocean Warrior, defying court order, and head for international waters while being chased down by a Costa Rican National Guard gunboat.

They had uncovered an international conspiracy of underworld crime and corruption that reached up to the highest levels of the Costa Rican government. Rob Stewart, who started his journey to capture pretty pictures and raise people's awareness about sharks was now an international fugitive.

The action doesn't end there, however. The crew head for Galápagos on the invitation of the government there to help protect the waters from illegal fishing, but Stewart is then taken ill with a flesh-eating disease, or Staphylococcus, and is hospitalized for nearly two weeks. The disease can often times be fatal, and Stewart was fortunate to survive. Upon being discharged from the hospital, he decides to sneak back into Costa Rica, having to keep away from the coast and use all public transportation and tour busses in order to avoid law enforcement and Taiwanese mafia. When he arrives, what he finds is surprising. SSCS's travails have alerted the public to the travesty of shark-finning taking place in their own backyard, and the corruption of their own government. People are protesting in the streets. The world had been awakened.

Rob Stewart's film is worthy of its numerous awards and accolades, including Canada's Top Ten (Toronto International Film Festival), Prix Planete Thalassa (France World Festival of Underwater Pictures), Best HD Feature (AFI Dallas International Film Festival), and Best Documentary (Director's Guild of Canada). Weaving a shark documentary and a human story of international intrigue, adventure, and corruption together to practically create a subgenre all of its own, Sharkwater makes for a fine viewing experience well beyond a mere eighty-nine minutes of eye candy. It not only opens the eyes, but it awakens the mind to the horror of what humanity is doing to the fragile ecosystem in which we live and gives us a very different perspective on sharks and the sea as a whole. I'd say Rob Stewart did a fantastic job as a first time filmmaker.

The Picture

Sharkwater is presented on this disc in its original 1.78:1 aspect ratio in a 1080p/24 high definition VC-1 transfer from Warner. All of the original footage was captured in high definition; this includes all of Rob Stewart's underwater footage and most of the footage such as interview segments taken on land. There are, however, some segments interspersed that use various other historical sources such as film footage, videotape, etc. and some of it is even stretched to fit the 1.78:1 aspect ratio from what I assume is an original 1.35 or 1.37:1 aspect ratio. As one might suspect, this does not meet the same quality as the captured-in-HD footage.

Apart from the aforementioned details, the actual underwater footage looks as detailed as it can, being underwater. There are no signs of pixelation or banding, which very well could have been prevalent given the differing shadings of blue. There are some moments where very slight macroblocking is noticeable, particularly the scenes capturing the sea lions underwater in the Galápagos, making their quick, balletic movements. There is not much sign of video noise, giving the picture a clear and pristine look. Perhaps being underwater may have softened the clarity just a bit, but it is hard to tell how much is due to the water, and how much was lost at the mastering level.

The high definition interview segments are pristine and detailed, but they also lack the finer detail of skin texture and cloth that is typical to Warner releases. One wonders how much more vivid and spectacular the underwater footage from the Galápagos Islands would have looked had the transfer not been slightly smoothed over. It is still an excellent release given the amount of detail that is captured.

The Sound

English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 and French Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 are offered on this disc. There are no lossless or uncompressed PCM options available.

For the purposes of this review, I listened to the English Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. It seems a shame that Warner did not see fit to offer a lossless or uncompressed PCM option for this release as the mix itself is a wonderfully engulfing and engaging experience with an abundance of discrete sound effects and ambience being mixed into all five main channels and LFE being used with great effect to offer a good amount of low frequency information.  

A lossless or PCM soundtrack would definitely have been the preferred option for a release such as this, but considering that the sound effects consist mainly of artificial "underwater" sounds, and not really the sounds of the natural world, as is pointed out by Rob Stewart himself in the "Making of" featurette, I'm not certain how much we are actually missing here. It's not like Planet Earth or Relentless Enemies, where the ambient noise is that of the actual natural world. But alas, even those releases do not contain lossless or PCM soundtracks.  

With Sharkwater being the first of its ilk to appear on Blu-ray Disc and being such an award-winning, attention-garnering documentary to boot, this release will no doubt be setting the standard for the "shark" genre of nature series on high definition for a long time to come. It is somewhat maddening that on a format with so much room and bandwidth to support it, that the studio did not include at the very least one lossless surround option.

The Extras

Unusually for Warner's releases, all of the extras offered on here are in high definition, albeit 1080i/60, and not the superior 1080p/24.

• Trailer (1.78:1/HD)

• The original theatrical trailer for Sharkwater

• TV Spots (1.78:1/HD)
• Three original television spots for Sharkwater

• The Making of Sharkwater (1.78:1/HD)
•  A making of featurette that features the director Rob Stewart and much of the same footage from the film. It offers a bit more insight into how Stewart found himself caught up in exposing the international world of illegal shark-finning, and gives him even more of an opportunity to sound off on the horrors and the travesty of the practice. During the featurette, Stewart also proffers details on how difficult it was for him to find funding for the film as a first time director and distribution after all of the controversy that took place during and after the actual filming.

• Shark Defense (1.78:1/HD; stretched)
• This is the full U.S. Air Force training film from 1964, portions of which were shown in Sharkwater itself.  The brief training film details some rather ridiculous -- by today's standards -- methods of warding of sharks if one should find oneself stranded in the ocean.

• Virtual Ocean (1.78:1/HD)
• Underwater footage set to musical accompaniment. Most of the footage is the same as that used throughout the film, but there are some extra bits not contained in the film itself that is also interspersed throughout. This is a very pleasant viewing, I must say, and it runs for approximately 20 minutes, and will automatically loop from the beginning. I am not ashamed to admit that whilst watching this for the purposes of this review I found it so tranquil that I began to fall into a peaceful slumber. Virtual ocean indeed.

Final Thoughts

Sharkwater deserves all the accolades it has accumulated over time since its release. It is the rare nature documentary that is not only informative about the subject upon which it is focused, but one that also awakens the conscience and inspires people into action.  This Blu-ray Disc release offers a detailed picture and engulfing 5.1 mix that should be enjoyable for everyone. For those who want their pretty picture documentary without the politics, the Virtual Ocean extra in 1080i high definition will fill the gap. There is something here for everyone. This is an all-around excellent release.

Where to Buy

• Sharkwater on Blu-ray Disc (Amazon.com)

Product Details

• Actors: Rob Stewart, Paul Watson
  
• Director: Rob Stewart
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Widescreen
• Audio/Languages: English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0, French Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0
• Subtitles: English and French
  
• Region: ABC (All Regions)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: PG
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• Blu-ray Disc Release Date: April 8, 2008
• Run Time: 89 minutes
• List Price: $28.99
• Extras:
  
• The Making of Sharkwater
• Shark Defense Naval Training Film
• Virtual Underwater Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer & TV Spots