Diving Deep: The Life and Times of Mike deGruy(2019)

Opening night of the 2019 Santa Barbara International Film Festival was an all time red carpet event! All attendees were dressed to the nines and we were treated to a tearful yet cheerful event. The documentary film shown, “Diving Deep: The Life and Times of Mike deGruy”(2019), directed by his wife and film making partner, Mimi deGruy, is a wonderfully told story of the life of champion ocean ambassador, documentarian, and deep sea explorer, Mike deGruy. Mike passed away in a heartbreaking helicopter crash on his way to film with director James Cameron, in a quest to explore even further depths of the ocean that any one man has travelled before. Mike was enthralled by the marine biology of the creatures of the deep. His explorations and adventures have brought a myriad of never before seen or known about creatures and plant life to light.

Mimi and Mike travelled the world together researching the impact of human and industrial impact on the ocean’s health and longevity along with everything in it. A considerable amount of the film is underwater so the screen is wall to wall blue. This symbolizes the depth of the ocean and the intelligence everyone must gain to stabilize its fragile environment. There is one scene where Mike is coming up from a dive, filming from his perspective, and as he breaches the surface it seamlessly cuts to a view from above of a leopard seal bursting its head out of the water. Mike’s belief about the over spending for our space exploration vs. the underfunding towards oceanic exploration is a reflection of humanities inability to look within. “Whats in the ocean is the lifeblood of this planet.”(Mike deGruy). It is our responsibility to take care of the underwater environment and ecosystems, and in doing so prevent and decrease further damage to the sea, and heal as much of the contamination human’s and corporations have already set in place.