First this shark-loving Kuanu Reeves-like film-maker got me to think of sharks as noble and gentle. Then he got me to feel sorry for the way they are killed for their fins, and worry about the effect it might have on the algae that produces most of our oxygen. Finally he surprised me by busting out a plot.
He quits his regular work and hooks up with the captain of an environmental activist boat, who's been around the block a few times, to go save sharks in Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands. They hassle a Costa Rican boat that is killing sharks illegally, and when they get to port, the government is more interested in prosecuting the activists than the illegal fishermen. The film-maker goes undercover in Costa Rica and gets hidden footage of a shark-fin mafia, which suggests a motive for government officials to not enforce some of their own laws. Then the activists' legal prognosis starts to look bleak, and they flee the country, with the Coast Guard in hot pursuit.
The boat continues on to the Galapagos, but things go badly there too. That government legalizes shark fishing, and then the film-maker is hospitalized with a flesh-eating infection in his leg, and the activist boat gives up on him and the sharks and moves on to save some whales in Antarctica. The film-maker does not give up, though, and incredibly he sneaks back into Costa Rica illegally. I won't give away the conclusion, but I found it quite satisfying.
The plot is good enough to be fiction, but I believed it and that realism added a lot. The film-maker becomes the main character, and although he comes off as somewhat naive and idealistic, I found myself feeling concern for his personal well-being and future, as well as that of the sharks he loves.
He quits his regular work and hooks up with the captain of an environmental activist boat, who's been around the block a few times, to go save sharks in Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands. They hassle a Costa Rican boat that is killing sharks illegally, and when they get to port, the government is more interested in prosecuting the activists than the illegal fishermen. The film-maker goes undercover in Costa Rica and gets hidden footage of a shark-fin mafia, which suggests a motive for government officials to not enforce some of their own laws. Then the activists' legal prognosis starts to look bleak, and they flee the country, with the Coast Guard in hot pursuit.
The boat continues on to the Galapagos, but things go badly there too. That government legalizes shark fishing, and then the film-maker is hospitalized with a flesh-eating infection in his leg, and the activist boat gives up on him and the sharks and moves on to save some whales in Antarctica. The film-maker does not give up, though, and incredibly he sneaks back into Costa Rica illegally. I won't give away the conclusion, but I found it quite satisfying.
The plot is good enough to be fiction, but I believed it and that realism added a lot. The film-maker becomes the main character, and although he comes off as somewhat naive and idealistic, I found myself feeling concern for his personal well-being and future, as well as that of the sharks he loves.