Diagonaldi Very well executed

Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Sharkflei Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

lamhoon33 Rob Stewart and his team (Paul Watson,Patrick Moore etc) has the courage to exposed the ugly side of mankind i.e. Greed, mindless and selfishness. For those who hunt sharks for fins are greed and selfish as the eco system in the ocean are upside down. Clips showing human cutting fins from live sharks and throwing back into the water and left to die. Rob and his team has did the right thing by speaking for the sharks and protecting the ocean. If this goes unchecked, one day this world will end not because of God but ourselves. Even if we stop this practice now, it may be a little too late but at least something has been done. A lot of people take things for granted and one of the reason is the lack of such eye and mind opening movie available. This show goes hand in hand with another movie titled "The Cove". Please watch it and think about it. Time to Change our habits for the better.

Roland E. Zwick The documentary, "Sharkwater," by filmmaker and naturalist Rob Stewart, has, essentially, a twofold purpose: to rehabilitate the reputation of the shark by countering many of the myths and misconceptions that, over the millennia, have grown up around the creature, and to raise awareness in the general public that the shark is basically being hunted out of existence by poachers eager to sell its high-priced fin - shark-fin soup being one of the priciest delicacies in Asian cooking. Compounding the tragedy is the fact that the fin is largely inedible and used mainly for ornamentation. According to Stewart, 100 million sharks are killed each year to support this billion dollar industry, resulting in the world's shark population declining by an estimated 90%. Yet, because they are not cute and cuddly creatures, there is no real constituency fighting for sharks as there is for dolphins and seals. Stewart's film is a small-step attempt to rectify that situation.Stewart begins by demonstrating that sharks and humans can exist in harmony together. This he does by donning scuba gear and plunging into shark-infested waters where he proceeds to pet, cuddle and play with the animals, all without incident. He also cites a number of statistics to back up his assertion, the prime one being that only five people per year on average are killed by sharks while a hundred or so are killed annually by elephants. Then he moves on to the more political aspects of the issue. The movie sets up an interesting dichotomy between two realms of existence, juxtaposing the beauty of nature with the ugliness of the human world. For while we're being shown eye-popping, multi-colored images of life under water – all in gorgeous hi-def, I might add - there's plenty of drama taking place on the high seas, as Stewart joins up with Paul Watson, a "direct action" conservationist who has devoted his entire adult life to roaming the oceans, trying to put a halt to the wholesale slaughter of the creatures who reside therein. We see Watson and his crew getting into tense confrontations with poachers, only to find THEMSELVES the object of pursuit by Costa Rican authorities. Stewart points out how corrupt governments like the one in Costa Rica outlaw shark hunting on an official level – in order to maintain their appeal to eco-conscious tourists - then secretly profit from it by looking the other way as poachers illegally operate off their coasts.And it isn't just out of compassion for the shark that Stewart and his buddies have mounted a crusade against this mass poaching. It's out of concern for the ecosystem itself, as the diminution or, heaven forbid, the elimination of one of the world's great predators could upset the delicate natural balance in ways we can not yet fully comprehend – including potentially increasing the amount of carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere if plankton-eating creatures that are current shark prey are allowed to flourish in ever-greater numbers.But there is hope. At the time this film was released (2007), sixteen countries had already banned shark-finning (hopefully more effectively than Costa Rica), and the general public had begun to fight back, as evidenced by mass street protests that began springing up in places like Costa Rica to help raise awareness of the issue – much as this film itself does.Stewart - who wrote, directed, produced and served as cinematographer for this amazing and inspiring film - can be justifiably proud of both his mission and his work.

nicjwheeler you know, the scary thing is, living in Costa Rica, you can see blatant signs of deals between the Costa Rican Government and the Taiwanese..... Rob Stewart is a genius for bringing this to the attention of the public - something I have been fighting against for a while now. I have just come back from volunteering at Cocos Island, and it breaks my heart to see the long lines set up in supposedly protected waters. The message is out in Costa Rica that it is OK to fish here, and nothing will happen to you if you get caught.... we need more people like "Sea Shepherd", who care, and can see the devastation that this is causing....

chardlee I just saw a U.S. preview screening of Sharkwater, and it was even better than I had expected, based on comments by people who had seen it in Canada.I like nature documentaries, and particularly those about the ocean, but I was worried that this would be kind of preachy. It's not (although it certainly has a clear position and message). But the message is an organic part of the story, not just an excuse to make a movie.Indeed, Rob Stewart spoke at the screening, and made clear that this is not the movie he'd set out to make. He wanted to make a pretty movie about sharks (and there is lots of terrific footage of sharks!), but it ends up being a story about Rob and his journey, and some mental lessons we should all learn about the relationships among sharks, humans, and the global environment.It's a very powerful film that will leave you thinking, perhaps a little angry, and certainly moved, and maybe a bit hopeful. Well worth seeing!