To Think, To Feel, with Eight Tentacles

©Netflix

There have been a number of really good books about octopuses in the last few years, from Peter Godfrey-Smith's Other Minds: The Octopus, The Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness to Sy Montgomery's The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness. And yet I never thought about octopuses and consciousness more—both theirs and ours—than when I watched Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed’s new documentary, My Octopus Teacher, at my local cineplex (i.e. my home).

Taking some 10 years to make, the doc tells the story of South African filmmaker and free diver Craig Foster who forms a year-long relationship with a wild octopus in a kelp forest near his house off the Cape Peninsula. It’s hard to know if they form a friendship—who’s to say if friendship is a meaningful or valid term for a cephalopod?—but they do gain each other’s trust, and Foster finds a new equilibrium and buoyancy inside him as a result of their encounter. The film is beautiful, both narratively and visually. And heartwarming, even if the water in it is very, very cold—and Foster eschews a wetsuit to permit a closer relationship with the environment, too.

Visit the Sea Change Project to learn more about Foster’s nonprofit dedicated to raising awareness of the beauty and ecological importance of the Great African Sea Forest, off the continent’s southern tip.