My Octopus Teacher (2020)
★★★ — My Octopus Teacher (2020)
Filmed over roughly a year in the kelp forests of False Bay, near Cape Town, My Octopus Teacher began as a deeply personal project by South African naturalist and filmmaker Craig Foster, who had spent years free-diving in those waters before the idea of documenting his relationship with a particular octopus took shape. Directors James Reed and Pippa Ehrlich shaped the footage into a feature-length documentary, co-produced by The Sea Change Project (Foster's own conservation organisation) and Dutch outfit Off the Fence. The film arrived on Netflix in September 2020, and its Oscar win for Best Documentary Feature at the 2021 ceremony caught many in the industry off guard, given its modest origins and the relative anonymity of everyone involved.
A-Z World Movie Tour South Africa My Octopus Teacher completely surprised me. I’ll admit, I went in skeptical. 90 minutes about a man swimming in cold seaweed and befriending an octopus? Really? But it’s not really about the octopus at all. It’s about Craig, the filmmaker, and his quiet journey through burnout, anxiety, and emotional disconnection. His daily dives into the kelp forests of South Africa become a kind of therapy, rituals of presence, patience, and wonder. And as he builds a bond (of sorts) with this wild, intelligent creature, you start to see how nature can heal, even in the most unexpected ways. The underwater cinematography is stunning, intimate, fluid, almost dreamlike. You feel the cold, the silence, the mystery of that world. And the octopus... She’s incredible, clever, playful, resilient. There are moments of pure magic: her riding a shark’s back, her camouflage vanishing into the rocks, the way she trusts him just enough to let him watch. It’s beautiful, yes, and deeply moving, especially when you know how it ends... But let’s be honest, it’s also one note. The tone never really shifts. It’s meditative from start to finish, which works for a while, but after an hour, you’ve kind of seen the rhythm: dive, observe, reflect, repeat. It doesn’t need to be longer than it is, but it doesn’t vary much either. Still, as a story of connection, loss, and finding peace in the natural world, it hits hard. Profound in places, repetitive in others, but ultimately touching. Just don’t expect action.
Rating: ★★★ | Year: 2020 | Watched: 2025-09-05
Where to watch (UK)
Stream: Netflix · Netflix Kids · Netflix Standard with Ads
Physical: Amazon UK
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