Seaspiracy, Netflix Original, reviewed

Seaspiracy, Netflix Original, reviewed

The Telegraph is currently going negative about this documentary on Twitter, though it has done so in a heavy-handed, clumsy way. Which actually manages to reinforce the importance of the message in the film, and also leaves you wondering if their response was more due to disquiet from perhaps their own financial backers, rather than due to the facts in the film. That said, George Monbiot, also featured in the film, has pointed out that some of the facts in the film are not completely accurate.

Where are we now then? Are we in a post-truth time for documentaries, that if the emotion is right, then do we need to not get all the facts right? Kip Anderson also has some previous in this context, as the director of, yes, you guessed it, Cowspiracy. Which also evoked some critiques for not having all of its facts carefully checked. Maybe it’s no longer necessary to have everything fact checked. The thing is, the more you can ensure you do have all the correct facts, the less grounds you give to your opponents to criticise and deny the accuracy of the overall thrust of your narrative.

Cowspiracy, for all of it’s flaws, has surely helped to propel the growth of veganism. Seaspiracy, with a simialar all or nothing title, is following similar ground, or rather oceans. It is probably the logical step, especially as Ali Trabrizi to effectively debunks the notion that any tuna can, ever, be dolphin friendly. Equally the scenes of slaughter of dolphins and whales, from Japan and the Faroe Islands are equally just plain wrong. These are living, sentient beings, and is it really necessary to kill so many of them that the sea turns red with their blood? It should surely not even be a question that we need to be asking.

There is a lot of push back, Irish food writers, saying that plant based diets have no clear benefits just begins to see a bit like Trump-esque climate change denials. Just because people deny something does not mean documentaries like this, are not, overall, speaking the truth. The elements that were inaccurate could have been tidied up and corrected, the overall train of thought is accurate and mostly fairly observed.

Why are European governments still subsidising the fishing industry when it has having such a detrimental impact on the planet. It is perhaps almost more shocking that these issues are still having to be debated rather than dealt with and mitigated. Seaspiracy is an important film, and well worth watching, and it would have just been great to not have given the opposition a few own goals to attack the film’s overall value.

Synopsis

From the co-creator who brought you the groundbreaking documentary Cowspiracy comes Seaspiracy, a follow up that illuminates alarming – and not widely known – truths about the widespread environmental destruction to our oceans caused by human behaviour. Filmmaker Ali Tabrizi initially set out to celebrate his beloved ocean, but instead found himself examining the harm that humans inflict upon the vulnerable seas.

From plastics and fishing gear polluting the waters to the irreparable damage of bottom trawling and by-catch, to illegal fishing and devastating hunting practices, humanity is wreaking havoc on marine life and, by extension, the entire planet. What Tabrizi ultimately uncovered not only challenges notions of sustainable fishing but will shock anyone who cares about the wonders of ocean life, as well as the future of the planet and our place on it.

Check out this conversation I did with @ceo_plant https://t.co/Zv3Hn1nAli

— ALI TABRIZI (@iamalitabrizi) April 10, 2021

Join the creators of @Seaspiracy by signing their petition to call for protection of 30% of the oceans by 2030 https://t.co/VGJZy1xQis

— Plant Based News (@PlantBasedNews) April 9, 2021

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