Blue Water, White Death is largely remembered as being the first film to feature great white sharks on screen. Although it has some great footage, time has not treated this documentary well.
The main problem with the film is that it drags on for entirely too long. In an attempt to emulate verite film makers, the movie incorporates several scenes of the divers and ship crew doing not much of anything. These include people arguing over how to rig the cameras and musical interludes featuring a folk singer who joined the crew. The film could easily have cut out twenty minutes or more.
Another factor dating the film is the depiction of whaling without any real commentary on its environmental impact. The divers accompany a whaling company hunting sperm whales so that they can watch sharks feed on a carcass. Viewers are treated to such inspirational sights as a harpoon being fired from the harpooner's perspective, and whales bleeding out from their wounds. The only objection to this that we hear is one diver commenting that the whales will be wiped out if humans keep hunting them.
Furthermore, the film focuses too much on the hunt for the great white, as it takes the film makers the better part of a year to find a white. This comes across as particularly tedious in our modern age of Shark Week, when a simple flip through the dials can find a documentary about great white.
For all these flaws, the last ten to fifteen minutes of the film, focusing on the divers' encounter with great whites, are truly exhilarating. Even today, their footage is a chilling document of the power of these sharks.
The main problem with the film is that it drags on for entirely too long. In an attempt to emulate verite film makers, the movie incorporates several scenes of the divers and ship crew doing not much of anything. These include people arguing over how to rig the cameras and musical interludes featuring a folk singer who joined the crew. The film could easily have cut out twenty minutes or more.
Another factor dating the film is the depiction of whaling without any real commentary on its environmental impact. The divers accompany a whaling company hunting sperm whales so that they can watch sharks feed on a carcass. Viewers are treated to such inspirational sights as a harpoon being fired from the harpooner's perspective, and whales bleeding out from their wounds. The only objection to this that we hear is one diver commenting that the whales will be wiped out if humans keep hunting them.
Furthermore, the film focuses too much on the hunt for the great white, as it takes the film makers the better part of a year to find a white. This comes across as particularly tedious in our modern age of Shark Week, when a simple flip through the dials can find a documentary about great white.
For all these flaws, the last ten to fifteen minutes of the film, focusing on the divers' encounter with great whites, are truly exhilarating. Even today, their footage is a chilling document of the power of these sharks.