Sharkwater

Sharkwater Productions. <i>89 minutes</i>.

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Like most predators, sharks get a bad rap as fearsome man-eaters. Yet, as filmmaker Rob Stewart explains with surfer-boy sincerity in Sharkwater, “They’re so afraid of us.” And with good reason—over the past 50 years, their population has dropped 90 percent due to longline fishing, Jaws-inspired trophy hunting, and the booming popularity of shark fin soup in East Asia. Stewart’s debut film provides a visually stunning image makeover for the misunderstood and threatened fish. “You’re told your whole life since you’re a kid that sharks are dangerous,” he narrates as we watch him cradle an accommodating, if not exactly cuddly, man-sized shark on the ocean floor, “but then finally you’re underwater…and it doesn’t want to hurt you.”

Though Stewart’s communion with sharks is reminiscent of “Grizzly Man” Timothy Treadwell’s fatal attraction to bears, his quest to save his favorite animal is grounded in the real world. He joins the crew of the Ocean Warrior, captained by environmental buccaneer Paul Watson, who’s known for ramming rogue whalers and other high-seas depredators. Off the coast of Costa Rica, the ship skirmishes with shark-poaching fishermen. On shore, Stewart discovers a massive illegal shark-processing business, filming thousands of fins awaiting shipment to China. (See “The Last Empire“) The story of Stewart’s crusade is interrupted by musical interludes (is that Enya playing?) meant to convince us of sharks’ soulfulness. Fortunately, Stewart’s astounding underwater cinematography makes up for such cringeworthy moments. A mesmerizing shot of schooling hammerheads subtly makes the case that you don’t have to love sharks to understand that their extinction would be a profound loss.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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