Appeared in DIVER July 2007
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Jacques Cousteau - Ultimate DVD Collection
BACK TO JACQUES
JACQUES COUSTEAU WAS MANY THINGS but he was primarily a film-maker. His first love was film, and as a young man he made several amateur movies - starring himself, of course!
He joined the French Navy, became involved in undersea swimming and the rest is history. This collection is the full nine yards. It includes his Undersea World films as well as films about him, and by his son Jean-Michel. In fact it seems to represent the whole body of work that is Cousteau.
Some of the earlier productions do not measure up to modern ideas of man's relationship with all things natural. Classic moments include: 'Sometimes, for reasons of conservation, it is necessary to use dynamite!' and violent scenes as oceanic whitetip sharks are massacred to avenge a baby whale that died because the Cousteau team ran it down with their own boat.
However, bear in mind that this was a time when people went on safari to see wild animals in their natural surroundings - and then shoot them.
Even so, the message supporting conservation of life on the planet throughout the major part of the collection is strong.
Not all the films are about the underwater world, though water is a linking theme. JC takes centre-stage in most of them but good actors are called in to read some of the commentaries. Those delivered by the master do tend to drone on a bit.
Cousteau may have done a lot to publicise himself but he also made everyone aware of another world that was out of sight and, until then, out of mind. As such, this DVD collection is a record of history in the making.
Let's face it, you probably wouldn't be diving now if it wasn't for Cousteau's drive to make films under water.
John Bantin
Jacques Cousteau - Ultimate DVD Collection, Delta Visual Entertainment, PAL, 21 discs, 3820min, ?149.99
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