Review: Fish People (Weekly Quarantine Series)

A reasonably short Netflix documentary is all one may need to transport to a relaxing paradise in the midst of all of this chaos. I stumbled upon this documentary with no real expectations, and since I had an hour to spare (these days, who doesn’t) I thought, why not?

Fish People (2017), a 48 minute documentary on Netflix offers a glimpse into the lives of six vastly different people from around the globe who are connected through their lifelong love and connection to the ocean. Director Keith Mallory showcases individuals with distinct talents in the fields of spear fishing, surfing, swimming and photography from Hawaii, Tahiti, California, and Australia.

Every shot looked like the perfect computer desktop. It is incredible to think that some people get the privilege of experiencing this beauty in person, every day of their lives. Within the first two minutes, I was hooked by the imagery alone, and a sense of serenity came over me. The kind of calm feeling that feels increasingly rare in the midst of a global pandemic.

(These are stock photos, if you couldn’t tell. The real images from this documentary would blow these out of the water, no pun intended…)

I do think that perhaps this documentary could have either been longer, or focused on less people. I found myself wanting to learn more about each person’s background story which was not possible within the time allotted.

So was there a moral to their collective stories? Some sort of grand call-to-action? My takeaway was this: Experience The Ocean, Love The Ocean, and Respect The Ocean. Humans seem to have a natural calling towards the ocean, and we should not deprive ourselves of that experience. But in doing so, we should act as humble guests of the oceans, and not disingenuous rulers of it. There are animals and natural habitats like coral reefs that are counting on humanity’s protection and respect. If more of us had frequent experience in the ocean, we would clearly recognize our responsibility towards preserving it for more generations to come.