Blue whales are the largest animals the world has ever known. Larger than dinosaurs. And even though no man has ever seen a dinosaur with his own two eyes, you know that’s still pretty darn big. They’re also surprisingly fast and elusive, moving as much as 30 miles an hour in the water and making it incredibly difficult to track one down. All those variables have created what one filmmaker calls the “Holy Grail of Underwater Videography.”
Louie Psihoyos is on a mission to capture footage of both a blue whale and a human to scale. Doing so would be the first time in history. Why go on such a wild goose chase? Because Earth has been in existence for 4.6 billion years, and mankind is rapidly bringing on the planet’s 6th global extinction event. According to Psihoyos, half of the world’s species will be extinct by the end of this century, thanks to man’s impact on the world. So what better visual could you imagine for telling that story? Man, the planet’s most dangerous species, dwarfed while swimming beside its largest.
This short film is an amazing look at the crossroads our planet and mankind are at right now. It tells the story of our impact on the ocean and many species across the globe in a dreadfully terrifying way, but from an empowering and hopeful perspective.
“We have this conceit that we’re big and we’re not part of it. But we’re actually all connected.”
