Directed by James Reed and Pippa Ehrlich. Available on Netflix. Reviewed by Paul Sorrell

One of the benefits of being a wildlife photographer is getting close up and personal with the natural world. Over the last few months, I’ve been following the progress of a female ngirungiru (South Island tomtit) at Orokonui Ecosanctuary near my home in Dunedin. I have been privileged to photograph her feeding, hunting, calling, even playing as a fledgling. Now when I enter her territory, she often comes out to greet me.

When I mention this project to people, they will often say, “Have you seen My Octopus Teacher?” So, needing a film to review, I sat down to watch it on Netflix.

Brought up on the Western Cape in South Africa, spending summers in a bach on the edge of the ocean fossicking among the rockpools, filmmaker Craig Foster returns to his childhood haven to recover from work-induced burnout. His therapeutic project takes him on a daily swim in the coastal kelp forest, tracking a female common octopus. To help him bond with the undersea world, he dives without an air tank or wetsuit.

The film he makes — each take limited by a single lungful of air — not only reveals a magical underwater world, full of exotic creatures, constant dramas and brilliant colours, but charts his developing relationship with his animal companion. She becomes curious about her human visitor, but remains wary. When on Day 26 she reaches out a tentacle to caress Craig’s hand and explore it with her suckers, we scarcely dare to believe what we are witnessing.

In what follows, Craig develops a close relationship with his “octopus teacher”, following her movements as she hunts crabs and lobsters while herself avoiding predation by packs of stripey pyjama sharks. We are given an intimate portrait of this beautiful creature which is able to transform its body into a myriad forms and hues. Formidably intelligent, she uses complex strategies to hunt prey or escape danger in an instant.

Survival in the undersea forest is always poised on a knife edge, and Craig manages to be present with his camera at critical moments. As he notes, he has learned to think like an octopus.

Not only does My Octopus Teacher present some of the finest natural history footage you’ll ever see, including numerous adrenalin-pumping chases through the kelp forest, but the human protagonist offers us a glimpse into an unfamiliar natural realm where the stresses of the surface world dissolve and communion with the nonhuman creatures that share this planet with us can become a reality.

Tui Motu Magazine. Issue 282 June 2023: 28