Here’s 10 of our favourite diving and underwater themed Netflix movies for a decent spell of sofa diving. Time to Netflix and dream of things marine…
The Cave
The rescue of 12 Thai boys and their football coach from the depths of the Tham Luang cave system in Northern Thailand captivated the world and began the largest and most daring cave rescue expedition of all time. Irish electrician and cave diver Jim Warny was part of that incredible mission and now also stars in the first feature film made about the rescue. The Cave tells the story from the perspective of those tasked with making life-or-death decisions in a tense and extremely difficult environment. We might already know the ending, but the story of the mission’s success is as thrilling as it is remarkable.
Read DIVE’s review of The Cave
Last Breath
In 2012, commercial diver Chris Lemons was undertaking a repair operation 100m deep in the North Sea, when rough seas pulled his surface support vessel out of position and severed the umbilical cord that provided him with power, heat and breathing gas. Using genuine footage and audio recorded during the event, Last Breath tells the story of one man’s fight for survival with no light, no means of contact, and a dwindling supply of emergency backup gas.
Mission Blue
Legendary oceanographer and the former first female director of NOAA, Dr Sylvia Earle, is on a mission to save our oceans. The Mission Blue movie tells the story of Earle’s project of the same name – to create a global network of marine protected areas that the team refer to as ‘Hope Spots’. During their first expedition, however, the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster plunges the Gulf of Mexico into an ecological catastrophe, making the mission all that more critical.
Shark
Produced by one of the world’s best natural world production companies, the BBC’s Shark documentary series covers the lives of 30 different species of shark spread across four extraordinary episodes. Once thought of as mindless killers, ‘Shark’ explores the private lives of the oceans most successful hunters, together with amazing -and occasionally explosive – footage of a group of animals that predate the dinosaurs by 200 million years.
Blackfish
Blackfish tells the story of Tilikum, an orca held captive at SeaWorld and a favourite of the paying public, but who was responsible for the deaths of three people, including one of his trainers. Blackfish explores the hidden horrors of captive cetacean displays and the tragic consequences of keeping such highly intelligent creatures in tanks for public amusement.
Blue Planet I and II
You can’t really watch one and not the other, and the BBC’s Blue Planet is the most brilliant of ocean-related documentaries, created by some of the best camera teams in the world who captured events never witnessed before by human eyes. Narrated by Sir David Attenborough, Blue Planet’s groundbreaking cinematography paved the way for a new generation of explorers, but as we visited more of our planet’s oceans, we found more of the damage we’ve been doing to them, and Blue Planet II shows us exactly how heartbreaking the destruction can be. Essential viewing.
Puff: Wonders of the Reef
It might be targeted at children but that doesn’t stop this having some of the most stunning underwater cinematography. Award-winning Australian documentary director Nick Robinson and cinematographer Pete West have captured in astonishing detail the life history of a sharp-nosed pufferfish from tiny larva to mature adult, on the Great Barrier Reef.
Read DIVE’s review of Puff: Wonders of the Reef
Jago – A Life Underwater
Jago is an award-winning documentary about Rohani, an 80-year-old Indonesian hunter who free dives for fish, and has done his whole life. Jago tells Rohani’s story from childhood to his mastery of the art of living life beneath the sea.
Chasing Coral
Coral reefs have, in recent years, undergone dramatic changes as warming oceans and mankind’s careless activities cause destruction to reefs around the world. Chasing Coral’s stunning cinematography takes us on an emotional journey through the plight and uncertain future facing the planet’s coral reefs, and points the finger squarely at us.
Read DIVE’s review of Chasing Coral
Fish People
Fish People is a collection of short stories of people who have dedicated their lives to the sea. The movie follows surfers, spear-fishers, a long-distance swimmer and a group of vulnerable San Francisco teenagers.
