“Have you ever been held spellbound at an aquarium gazing at the beautiful tropical fish and wondered why it seemed they were gazing back at you with equal wonder?” asks producer Martin Sheen, who introduces Aquariums: The Dark Hobby, explaining that the removal of tropical fish from their natural environment jeopardizes the aquatic ecosystem they, and we all depend on to sustain life.
Any documentary on marine life can be quite interesting. You will get some beautiful shots of fish. But you’ll want to care about sustainable fishing practices and / or the conservation of marine wildlife.
From Paula Fouce’s lens, we get a snapshot of overfishing issues in Hawai’i, specifically how the ecological fallout is destroying the area’s gorgeous and life-sustaining coral reefs.
The aquarium industry, worldwide, rakes in billions of US dollars a year and is only set to escalate. Fouce’s doc surrounds a group of activists, including some native Hawaiian elders, who their activism all the way to the Supreme Court. “You need two things to become an aquarium collector in Hawaii, a pulse and $50,” they say in the doc, showing that the barrier is low and the profit is high, both in returns and environmental costs.
There are a few moments of discomfort where the worldview of those interviewed are too close to the subject. As a trigger warning, the practices are compared to sexual assault in a pretty grim way. Would be better and more convincing to understand that the film will be received by real people who do not have this at the center of their world, but will grow to care by the end.
Any marine wildlife doc will be an easy sell if you care about the subject. That’s how the medium goes. It’s made to be informational and if you desire that information, this is a good way to retrieve it.