Cousteau's research methods—such as blowing up a coral reef with dynamite, accidentally driving over a baby whale only to shoot it in the head a minute later, and killing sharks with a sledgehammer just because you hate them—may come off as barbaric, which they are, but times were different back then.

It is hard to imagine this was filmed 58 years ago. Some of the underwater scenes look straight from a James Bond film. We also get to witness the French divers find and explore a sunken ship where no man has ever been before. Not to mention Jojo, the fish that got too greedy and had to be locked up.

If you have even the slightest interest in marine biology, oceans, or history in general, do yourself a mighty fine favour by watching this beautiful film. It won the Academy Award and the Palme d'Or for a reason.

we fed this fish dynamite because how else will we learn

The only morally good thing these characters do is have a funny wiener dog on the ship

this is a b horror film, this is maritime cannibal holocaust, i am surprised they didn’t throw the dachshund overboard

In 1956, when this won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, it was all about the spectacular underwater photography. When we watch this, nearly 70 years later, it's really only about the murder of that whale.

Palme d'Or Winners, ranked

When this pufferfish is in danger he inflates himself with water so the enemy can't swallow him. But the trick does not work against dynamite.

Fascinating, gorgeous and utterly insane. Cousteau and company ride giant turtles both underwater and on land, they tease a big grouper with a sack of meat, they hit a baby whale with their boat and then exact revenge on the sharks that eat the carcass of the whale that they themselves killed. They also blast an area with dynamite to catalog the types of fish they find while Cousteau explains that dynamite fishing is illegal but it's okay in the name of science. Still, this is a captivating look at underwater exploration even if it is extremely dated in its treatment of ocean life.

Triple feature recommendation:
The Silent World
Blue Water, White Death
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

One of the most unintentionally funny and anti-self aware movies I have ever seen. A film that tries to display the beauty and majesty of the ocean world while simultaneously destroying environments and torturing animals every step of the way. We are shown lobsters being yanked from their habitats, destroying coral with a hammer, using dynamite to blow up an entire school of fish, harpooning a whale, brutally killing a bunch of sharks, and sitting/standing on sea turtles for entertainment. While it was fairly well made, had interesting cinematography, and good music - I found this overall to be pretty boring, unironic, and very disrespectful - 5/10.

Yes, a lot of their techniques were inhumane (literally blowing up the ocean and killing an insane amount of fish), but it was shot in Technicolor and they all had lil red hats so I can’t STAY mad.

exploring the seas and also each other’s bodies