Playing With Sharks
I didn’t catch “Playing With Sharks” at Sundance, but was intrigued nonetheless. It makes sense for me to finally watch it during Shark Week, ahead of its release on Disney+. Produced by National Geographic, it places Valerie Taylor in our minds as a complicated environmental conservationist, who’s spent the bulk of her life around sharks, and has been on both sides of what a life like that would look like. Regardless of how you view her, her and her late husband, Ron Taylor, have done much to help our understanding of sharks.
One thing I did not know, though I should of, is that Valerie and Ron did some second unit footage for “Jaws” off the coast of Australia. Hearing about the experience of shooting the footage, with a stuntman who was scared of literally everything involved with the shoot, it’s amazing the footage turned out so spectacularly- Hell, they almost had an easier time with their shoot than Spielberg did on the film itself. They would come to regret their participation on the shoot, however, because on of the after effects of the blockbuster film was not only fear of going in the water, but it fueled shark hunting from those who took “Jaws” as truth on the fish. The after effect of that was for the Taylors to step up their conservation efforts in support of sharks, and Great Whites, in particular.
Valerie and Ron begin as spear fishermen- well, Valerie is the fisherman, and Ron is filming her- with a particular interest in sharks. Valerie only kills one shark, but after they go on a particular healthy haul, they stop, and turn their focus towards exploration, and trying to dispel myths about sharks. The footage is thrilling to watch, and their commentary about the experiences is inspiring. I’m not saying I want to go down there myself, but even during the moments we’re most afraid for Valerie, we see how her work matters in making the public think differently about the ocean in general, and sharks in particular. There’s not much to say beyond that, but the Taylors say it better than I could.
