Ariela Rubin on Watson (2019) Tribeca 2019

Watson is a documentary about Paul Watson, the founder of Sea Shepherd, and Co-Founder of Green Peace. Watson has dedicated his life to fighting to end the killing of whales, and to save and protect our oceans. Paul Watson always wanted to be a sailor. At 10, he spent the summer swimming with beavers. The next year, the beavers weren’t there, and he found out they were trapped. This is when his activism began.

The documentary features a lot of old photos from his youth, video footage of his earlier years of trying to stop the seal slaughter in Canada when he was first starting out as an activist. The film also explains why he was forced out of Greenpeace, how he created Sea Shepherd (the organization where he and a team would go out into the ocean on boats, and ram vessels to prevent them from being able to kill whales). (This turned into being filmed for the TV show called Whale Wars).

Watson feels he has a moral obligation to take action and intervene to try to save these animals. He says he isn’t afraid of death, and that he is willing to risk his life for the whales and their habitat. He is a true hero. It shows what one person can create.

It is full of beautiful views of the ocean, orcas and other creatures in the ocean.  At times when I was watching the footage of them out in the ocean, I felt like I was watching an action film. The film also contains current interviews with Paul, and speaks a bit about his personal life; his marriage, and his children.

 It is very informative. A must see.