Deep Blue (2003)

The natural history of the oceans

Directors:

Andy Byatt, Alastair Fothergill

Writer:

David Attenborough

Stars:

Michael Gambon, David Attenborough, Pierce Brosnan

Cast

Credited cast:
Michael Gambon	...	Narrator (voice)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
David Attenborough
Pierce Brosnan	...	Narrator (voice)
Frank Glaubrecht	...	Narrator (voice)
Jacques Perrin	...	Récitant (voice)
Dalik Volonitz	...	Narrator (voice: Hebrew version)

Storyline

The natural history of the oceans

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Plot Keywords:

wild life | shark | narration | albatross | extreme close up | 

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Taglines:

Until Now We've Only Touched The Surface.

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Genres:

Documentary

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Certificate:

G

Details

Official Sites:

Bac Films [fr] International Site

Country:

UK Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 January 2004 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Kék mélység

Filming Locations:

Antarctica

Box Office

Budget:

$5,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$8,373 (USA) (3 June 2005)

Gross:

$129,854 (USA) (19 August 2005)

Company Credits

Production Co:

BBC Natural History, BBC Worldwide, Greenlight Media AG

Technical Specs

Runtime:

83 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in The Making of 'Deep Blue' (2006)

User Reviews

Images you've never seen before

It's a very nice feeling watching a documentary like this on the big screen. You can feel the overwhelming power of waves bursting against rocky coastlines and experience the vastness of the ocean.

"Deep Blue" takes you on a journey from the coast to the coral reefs, then to the icy lands of the (ant-)arctic, and finally down to the most fascinating part of this movie: the deepest depths of the ocean, where not a single beam of light shatters through.

Most scenes are greatly composed of very clear, sharp and absolutely stunning images harmonized with the orchestral music of the Berliner Philharmoniker.

In one very nice and humorous scene where you see hundreds of fat penguins shambling over a sheet of ice, I nearly got the impression, also induced through the music, watching the marching scene of Edoras citizens in "Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers". Might sound odd, but I guess I have a faible for "large" scenes with many actors moving on the big screen, supported by a big orchestra. There is another scene like this with little crawfish on the coast choreographed like a sports event.

But in "Deep Blue" you have no special effects. There are literally thousands of "actors" in some scenes. You watch birds falling from the sky, shooting into the waters, grabbing one fish out of a vast swarm. You watch penguins gaining speed under water, jumping out and finally (more or less) safely landing with their round bellies on the sheets of ice. And you're worried about little fish hiding under rocks when carnivore fishes arrive searching for food.

You might have seen most of the animals before, but when they take you some kilometers down you enter a completely different and very fascinating world, which I have never seen before in another documentary - at least not in this clarity.

Down there in this seemingly live threatening environment very, very odd and sometimes scary looking creatures are lingering around. Sometimes you wonder yourself if they just dropped you out of the documentary throwing you right into a science fiction movie.

There are tiny creatures, partly transparent, with moving light bars on their bodies pulsating in rainbow colors. There are little ones generating bright flashes to baffle their enemies. And, well, if you've seen "Finding Nemo" you might recognize the scary looking carnivore with a "light bulb" on his head attracting innocent little fishies.....

So... I rated this documentary 8/10. It's not perfect in my opinion. There is a narrator sometimes throwing in some sentences which are more or less describing the current scene. I think he speaks about 10-15 times in the whole movie. This goes well with the pace and the atmosphere (would be disturbed by too much speaking), but gives you nearly no information about the animals you see on screen. A tiny subtitle in one of the lower edges might have been great showing you the names of the creatures you're currently looking at.

Also I would have done the cutting in a slightly different way. Some scenes are perfect, just beautiful and overwhelming, where other scenes are very much like in the usual TV documentaries.

Overall, this movie is worth watching in the cinema if you have the opportunity to do so. Also, the more people learn to admire the wonders of the ocean, the more chances mankind may have to protect it in the future.