It’s not easy being me, you know… particularly when it comes to being me around movies.
When I first started watching ‘Océans’ there was only one expectation I knew the film should meet: the sharp documentation and narrative of an overly exposed and saturated reality, the reality of climate change, human interference and of how the continuity of thousands, maybe millions of species out in the deep blue depends on us.
Silly me. The movie goes way beyond that.
With the language that could only belong to a true poet, a master of word and verity, the silhouette of the story is presented with a simple and gracious line: ‘to really know the ocean, you have to live it’.
How bright and yet simple.
The moment you live anything, you’re part of it. More than having the experience shaping your own perception of life, the experience itself embraces you and takes you into its unique view. It opens the doors for you to perceive everything under a new light as if through the sight, taste, hearing and tact of another being. From the very first minutes of this movie I knew I was about to live through another essence, one who never speaks through words nor feels with emotions but embraces with the most mothering of all embraces and allows all life to be given a chance to be prosperous; the ocean.
I was it. Its deep, weightless core, its dense but yet see through matter. I was its warmth, its candor and its magnanimity yet I was humble.
I allowed all things to fight and prove they deserved to live in my womb; I let them improve their skills while respecting the timing of others. I taught them quietly but was never absent. I held their hands, prepared their cradle and when it was time for all creatures to live on their own I let them borrow my whole self so they would always remember where their essence came from, so their own singularities could thrive on me. They learned their lesson and succeeded.
But a few also learned to forget, and that’s where this film steps in. It opens the curtains again, it reminds us of the ocean’s humility: ‘down here it’s like nature gave everything a try, every color, every shape, every way of life’. No objections, no judgment, only permission to try a little harder, live a little longer and take care of your environment for it’s not only just a place; it’s who you are.
With a powerful message, but most importantly, with a majestic honesty and generosity, the language in this film equals its subject. It allows the viewer to slowly remember that they too are part of this being and that one may never live without the other.
“Instead of asking what exactly is the ocean,’ we should be asking who exactly are we?’”
It spoke to me and I replied back in ways words could never describe.
