Stream It or Skip It?

Netflix’s Shark Whisperer documentary follows Ocean Ramsey, an aptly named diver, and her partner, photographer Juan Oliphant, as they work to shift the public’s perception of sharks. Driven by a deep personal connection to the ocean’s most misunderstood predators, the two embark on a mission to change the narrative, protect and conserve the creatures.

Opening Shot: A free diving woman is being circled by a shark. But wait, it’s not just one. That’s two, no, THREE gigantic sharks, all horrifically close. The woman floats around, aware of the sharks but seemingly not concerned. Finally, one approaches her, mouth wide open and ready for dinner.

The Gist: Ocean Ramsey saw her first shark as an eight-year-old girl. Instead of frantically swimming away like any normal person would, she decided to follow it. 30 years later, she’s still at it, now actively seeking out interactions with sharks in order to study them.

Ramsey isn’t just fascinated by sharks on an academic level — she feels bonded to them. “When I’m around them, I feel most alive, and it’s not an adrenaline rush. It’s a feeling of connection. Where I feel the most myself,” she tells viewers. After years of swimming alongside them, Ramsey developed a rare understanding of sharks’ behavior patterns. She began to notice that each time she surfaced for air, the sharks changed their behavior — as if reminded that she indeed was not one of them. So, she learned to hold her breath for over six-and-a-half minutes, allowing her to study their natural conduct for longer.

Ramsey eventually meets fellow shark enthusiast and photographer Juan Oliphant and realizes they’re two sides of the same coin. Oliphant helped pioneer the cage tourism industry, which allows people to watch sharks from inside a cage in the ocean. He and Ramsey decide to band together to raise awareness about the creatures and promote conservation. Oliphant soon realized that content he posted featuring Ramsey received attention thanks to its ‘wow’ factor. Thus, a public relations campaign for sharks began. In order to show people that sharks are not the human-hungry killers we all thought them to be, Ramsey and Oliphant use their platforms to prove the rarity of shark attacks, and simultaneously teach people how to stay safe if they encounter one.

The pair of course has their critics — marine biologists, fishermen or others who say their content is more for show than science, and chastising them for potentially inspiring people to seek out interactions with the unpredictable predators. However, none can deny Ramsey and Oliphant’s impact on shark conservation efforts. The documentary follows their long fight to get Hawaii to ban the wasteful killing of sharks. I won’t spoil if they’re successful or not.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of? How To Train Your Dragon. Like Toothless, sharks are feared, but misunderstood, by humans.

Performance Worth Watching: Roxy, a tiger shark with a broken jaw — most likely due to a fisherman’s hook — is a standout star of the film. Oliphant and Ramsey share a special connection with the shark, whose injury was one of the main drivers of their decision to work towards policy change.

Memorable Dialogue: Ramsey says she knows the risks, but she and her partner have nothing to lose. “I’m good to go anytime,” she said. “It’s not the years in your life, it’s the life in your years.”

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: The film certainly has a slow start, but my interest certainly piqued once they started trying to dive with great whites. They pulled me in with the fantastical aspect, then kept me in it following their laborious effort to pass House Bill 553 into law.

Our Call: Am I still scared of sharks after watching? You bet! But the misunderstood nature of the creatures is much more tangible to me now, as well as the phenomenon of their villainization. STREAM IT!