Parents' Guide to Ocean with David Attenborough

Released halfway through the United Nations' Decade of the Ocean, this impactful documentary is part celebration, part warning that proves a strong call to action for change. In Ocean with David Attenborough, cameras travel across the globe, from Scotland to the Bahamas, exploring the phenomenal diversity of underwater life. Attenborough's documentaries are known for their stunning visuals, and here underwater realms are portrayed with cinematic beauty, like otherworldly sci-fi movies full of the colorful and bizarre—a crab that wears sea anemones as gloves for protection is a particular curiosity. But soon the tone is one of apocalyptic horror, as cameras follow the nets and chains dragged across the ocean floor by huge commercial trawlers. Everything is either caught or destroyed in their wake, which is devastating enough, but when viewers are told that three quarters of the species caught are discarded as waste, the picture starts to look even darker. Attenborough makes references to modern colonialism—wealthy nations overfishing and starving coastal communities—but also to the work of those fighting to make a difference, like a regeneration project led by fishermen and elders in Hawaii. Just like the delicate balance of the ocean's ecosystems, there's a balance here between dire information and glimmers of hope. While currently only 3% of the world's oceans are truly protected, most countries have agreed to help increase that to 30% by 2030. As Attenborough says, knowledge is important for change, and films like this that highlight the plights of the ocean, and the far-reaching effects of losing the species within, will help move the conversations, and actions, in the right direction.