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France 1991
Directed by
Luc Besson
79 minutes
Rated G

Reviewed by
Bernard Hemingway
3 stars

Atlantis

Although now best known for his slick action thrillers, Luc Besson once nurtured aspirations to become a marine biologist and Atlantis, not so much a documentary as a visual meditation, reflects this first love. Expanding on the themes he explored in The Big Blue (1988) the film is divided into a number of anthropomorphically thematized chapters that, to the accompaniment of a varied range of music, simply shows the creatures of the deep at work and play in their own richly varied world.

Free of David Attenborough-style narration this is in its own way highly effective as a passionate plea for ecological respect - a herd of manatees disport themselves off the coast of Florida. a striped sea snake undulates to Oriental rhythms and in the unfortunately tendentiously titled chapter, Hate, a school of sharks stalk their territory.  The photography is not so much spectacular as silently observational as Christian Petron and his camera team take us to places most will never go and thus make us aware of the wondrous integrity of this part of our world.

DVD Extra: Theatrical Trailer

Available from: Madman

 

 

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