My Octopus Teacher is a story that reflects our contemporary reality. A person that had a burn out decides to find a cure. With no clue on where to go, he revisits his infancy and starts to dive. Still clueless, he dives daily, going deeper, holding his breath longer, until he finds an octopus and starts to discover the wonders of this beautiful mollusk. Craig Foster, the diver, is the supporting character and he calls the octopus a “she”. It is not a normal documentary, it’s pragmatic on its art form, linear, sober, but I found myself looking for a deeper meaning. Mr. Foster is clearly a person with mental health issues, seems depressive, and while diving deeper he metaphorically got obsessed. And through the obsession he finds meaning. And through meaning, love. The octopus is not his cure, but the passage to look inside himself and realize he belongs to that environment. And as every single creature, he has a role, a beautiful role. His cure is his self-awareness. The octopus died and he is probably not cured. But might not be clueless anymore.
If you haven’t seen it, this paragraph doesn’t take any of its magic. It is really one of the most amazing things I’ve watched recently. And it’s also the post #4 of this little project called Projeto Pára-Grafo: one paragraph a week with my inspiration, but not always the “she” of my paragraphs, Gisele Sakamoto
