Mission Blue (Robert Nixon, Fisher Stevens, 2014): USA|Bermuda|Ecuador

Reviewed by Kelly Bader. Viewed at Santa Barbara Film Festival 2014.

“Mission Blue”, Directed by Robert Nixon and assistant Fisher Stevens was a documentary about Sylvia Earle, an oceanographer.  She is an explorer who goes to the depths of the ocean to determine why animals are going instinct and how to save them and solve this dilemma. Sylvia Earle is constantly traveling and doing research along with being hands on and diving herself to see the issues first hand.

When director Robert Nixon was introducing all the individuals that were involved with the making of the film, “Mission Blue”, the person who grabbed my attention was the writer from the movie, “The Cove”, Mark Monroe. I had not done much upfront research on “Mission Blue” prior to opening night, but having seen prior work that Monroe was involved with I was prepared for some real life footage that would put my stomach in knots. For instance, the scene when the fishermen are chopping the fins off of the sharks. The full frame shot where the fishermen is now throwing the shark back in the ocean knowing it has no chance of survival. This is then followed by a close up shot of a person who about to enjoy a cup of soup in which this shark died for. These two images inform us of what we are doing to our animals for our pure satisfaction. I understand that we as humans are meant to eat meat and fish, however I believe there are more humane ways we can treat these animals.

Not only can we treat sea life more humanely but we can also limit our amounts. The scene when Sylvia Earle walks through the tuna market and sees thousands of tuna just lying on what appear to be pallets, getting them ready to cut and package to then be sold for money. Director Robert Nixon uses this scene to show us, the audience, what is going on behind the scenes and what industry people don’t want us to know.  These scenes really put into prospective the reason why tuna is going extinct and how the amount that was from one days harvest trip was ridiculously outrageous and needs to be cut down. We are completely wiping out our ocean specious because we insist on taking more then is necessary.

The last dive scene where Sylvia and Robert went out into the middle of the ocean in Australia to dive and see the coral reef, this is where it all sunk in. Going down and seeing not one fish and the coral completely dead has got me scared of what is to come. Like Sylvia said, we need to make hope spots like we do national parks. We need the ocean to help keep the trees in the national parks alive because most of our oxygen comes from the ocean. Remembering that we are an eco system and for one part to succeed we need all the connecting parts to be successful as well.