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The Critters Trilogy by John Boyle (Shark Bay Films)Sony Freediver Open Classic 2003 by Ambrosia Productions (Fathom)
The Critters Trilogy by John Boyle (Shark Bay Films)Sony Freediver Open Classic 2003 by Ambrosia Productions (Fathom)
Two new DVDs, and I watch them hoping to be informed, never having been to Indonesia's legendary Lembeh Strait or taken part in a free-diving competition. Two DVDs, but only one I would want to watch twice.
John Boyle's compelling Critters makes it easy to see why his work has won such acclaim. Three 26-minute episodes about Lembeh and its peculiar cast of characters - by day, by night and among the coral - held me rapt.
In daylight Lembeh's inhabitants resemble bag-ladies shambling around a waste-tip. They wear algae overcoats and drab colours to deceive predators and prey alike. By torchlight after dark there is more colourful life to be seen, but disguise and evasion remains the rule.
The ultimate predators are frogfish by day and octopuses by night, with creatures such as mantis shrimps and cuttlefish also emerging as lethal feeders in this incredible microworld. Through John Boyle's lens and informative narration I enjoyed diving Lembeh by proxy. Now I want to do it for real.
The only sour note was struck by fishermen free-diving to drag weighted nets across surviving coral. Their catch was pitifully small, the damage considerable. Yet this is subsistence fishing; what choice do they have?
Free-diving, not for survival but to prove yourself before your peers, is the subject of Sony Freediver Open Classic 2003, the 'official' DVD account of the championship event held in Cyprus last year.
Like a wedding video, this appears to be aimed mainly at friends, family and those of the inner circle who couldn't be present. If you're a free-diving fanatic who can't get enough of people holding their breath, you may like it. But without wishing to detract from the real achievements of the competitors, little sense of the challenges involved comes over. There is no narration or attempt to put individual accomplishments into context.
You'll find long interviews with competitors on the 'extras' disc, and had the nuggets from these been woven in with footage of the higher-achievers, perhaps as voice-overs, a product suitable for a wider market may have emerged.
After a while of intruding into this world, as private as that of Lembeh Straits but less colourful, I let them get on with it and enjoyed the original new age soundtrack while doing something else.
Steve Weinman
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The Critters Trilogy by John Boyle (Shark Bay Films, www.sharkbay films.com). DVD, 78min, £25 (video £18)
Sony Freediver Open Classic 2003 by Ambrosia Productions (Fathom, www.ambrosiaproductions.tv). DVD, 56min + extras disc. £24.99The DVD The Critters Trilogy can be ordered through www.fourthelement.com
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