Your guide to getting closer
to nature this month
Becoming Cousteau
Showing in UK cinemas from 12 NovemberC
ommander jacques-yves cousteau
was many things: an explorer, a
conservationist, a film-maker, an
innovater, an author, a husband, a
father, and much more. Directed
and produced by the award-
winning documentary maker Liz Garbus,
this film from National Geographic takes
on the tough challenge of bringing thelife of this extraordinary man to the silver
screen in just 90 minutes.
With footage taken by Cousteau
himself or by his family and crew, we are
allowed an insight into who he was as
a person and as an explorer, renowned
around the world for his films, books and
conservation activism.
There is a lot to cover, so the film only
lightly touches on different aspects of
his work and life, but still doesn’t veer
away from some of the uncomfortable
aspects – his struggles as a husbandand father when he was so focussed on
exploring, and the times when he and his
crew handled animals in a way that would
be seen as inappropriate today, such as
handstands on top of giant tortoises.
In the film, he talks about a time when
his crew angrily killed sharks that had
been eating a baby dolphin and how he
found it difficult to re-show those early
films. It reveals the evolution of Cousteau,
from being funded by oil companies to
becoming the conservationist who created
a legacy that still continues today.Jacques Cousteau
GoWILD!
FILM HIGHLIGHT OF THE MONTH
96 BBC WILDLIFE December 2021