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 SHARK: MIND OF A DEMON WITH FABIEN COUSTEAU is a dynamic adventure, a film that gets deep inside the world of our planet's most feared creature: the great white shark. This hour documentary is reported by Fabien Cousteau, grandson of the great oceanographer Jacques Cousteau, and in many ways it is also a tale of the passing on of an extraordinary legacy. The film, which also features Fabien's accomplished sister Celine Cousteau, starts from the premise that the animal so many of us think we know completely, we actually don't know at all. Whenever the public sees or hears of a great white shark it is either attacking a hapless surfer, feeding wildly in a pool of blood or being hunted by some cinematically-invented fisherman. That's not an accurate portrayal of the world's sleekest and most powerful animal. It's certainly not the image Fabien Cousteau was interested in. So he decided to do something about it---something no one else had ever done before. He decided to really know great white sharks, he would become one. This unique project, filmed on location over several years, chronicles the realization of Fabien Cousteau's unlikely dream--to create a one-man great white shark submarine, and to put a pilot in it. The pilot would be Cousteau himself. His first mate would be his sister Celine. Together, with an extraordinary cast of shipmates, they would take their "shark sub" into the most treacherous waters imaginable: the great white's favorite feeding ground, in the deep waters near Isla Guadalupe, a small desolate island off the Pacific coast of Mexico. The construction of a viable "shark sub" was in itself an engineering challenge that simply had no precedent. Finding the nerve and the skill to get inside of it was another matter. In many ways this documentary is the story of two journeys. One is classic Cousteau; a journey of exploration into the heart and wonder of nature itself. It is this journey that is Fabien and Celine's spiritual inheritance, passed down from their grandfather who captivated a generation with his world-wide voyages aboard the famous ship "Calypso." The second journey is Fabien's own personal saga, as he takes his place in a family of dreamers and explorers. "The Captain Jack" is the vessel that takes Fabien and Celine deep into shark infested waters. Their adventures aboard this rag-tag research vessel are extraordinary, and they don't always go smoothly. This special combines all the elements of great storytelling--including the risk of tragedy--with science and deep concern for our environment. It would make the great Jacques Cousteau proud: his own grandchildren teaching the world about nature, about itself, in a fun, adventurous, smart way on a journey of exploration no one has ever dared attempt before. |
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