Becoming Cousteau (2021) Review

Title: Becoming Costeau
Year: 2021
Director: Liz Garbus
Country: US
Language(s): French/English

Jacques Cousteau (1910-1997) was a man of immense importance to the underwater community of scientists. He developed the aqua lung, pioneered marine conservation, won the Palm D'Or for a documentary, made an incredible amount of educational films, and tried very hard to get involved with climate change awareness. Cousteau did many lifetimes of work in his long career, but it came with many sacrifices.

Becoming Cousteau is a look at the achievements and tragedies surrounding the famous explorer and environmentalist Jacques Cousteau, featuring an archive of his newly restored footage.

Director Liz Garbus uses a vast amount of archival footage combined with audio clips & readings of Cousteaus’s diary to create a somewhat traditional & straightforward documentary that manages to capture our imagination, leaving a significant impression of the mythical Cousteau.

Though Garbus' presentation isn't very innovative, one has to be impressed by the director's get-to-the-point approach at activism. She doesn't want to engage us with glitz and flashy editing techniques; she would rather let the facts speak for themselves. The film was quite eye opening in regards to the severity of man made climate change. I'm certainly going to think about ocean activism in the future due to watching this. 

Garbus avoid the media cliche of "printing the legend" and gives us a more well rounded, more nuanced approach to Cousteau. The euphotic highs and dizzying lows are highlighted by a very remarkable score that adds to the compelling nature of the subject matter. Certainly a worthwhile viewing.