PalCinema Review: Turtle Walker
Another great film streaming as part of DOCNYC
November 18, 2024
FILM: TURTLE WALKER
DIRECTED BY: TAIRA MALANEY
RATING: 3 ½ out 4 stars
By Dan Pal
Turtle Walker is a new documentary from Taira Malaney who focuses on the fascinating career of Satish Bhaskar, a man from India who spent nineteen years exploring the country’s coastlines to study sea turtles. His work helped to protect the species that has been exploited for its eggs, flesh, and shell. Knowing absolutely nothing about sea turtles myself I found this to be a very enlightening and inspiring piece of work.
Early scenes address Bhaskar’s childhood and his first trips to remote islands, which he explored on his own, to study the turtles. One of the interesting approaches Malaney takes is to recreate these early voyages using younger actors to stand-in for Bhaskar. When the documentary was shot, Bhaskar was in his seventies. Through interviews, he tells his story while we view the areas which he is discussing. The cinematography is stunning with many shots under the beautiful water and others that float high above the surface of each locale. Cameras fly as the turtles, with their bulky, heavy bodies, glide under the ocean. Perhaps even more impressive are the number of shots which take us close to the turtles as they crawl on the surface of the sand, seemingly exhausted with each belabored breath. Malaney provides us with close-ups of the turtles as well as key moments in their lives, such as when their eggs are laid in the sand. It’s quite extraordinary and revelatory footage.
Malaney presents the early flashback scenes, and those shot at night, using black and white imagery. This serves as a contrast to the beauty of the various settings while also wisely allowing viewers to get a good sense of life on these islands once the sun goes down. A very effective and peaceful soundtrack is also used to accompany these majestic spots.
Of course, the primary focus is on Bhaskar who is a self-described introvert. He clearly loves wildlife and comes across as a very gentle soul which the young actors playing him nicely portray. There are also scenes in which he is interviewed with his wife who clearly allowed Bhaskar to embrace his passion. After decades of marriage she seems highly respectful of all that he has done. Of course, not all of it was completed without some strife. Bhaskar dealt with spoiled food, a lack of good maps, and illness, but he survived creating a body of notes and research which may have given new life to the endangered species.
What may be most curious about the film though is where the recreations were actually shot. In 2004 the tsunami that hit the region left some of the islands in a state of destruction and many of the turtles seemed to have disappeared from sight. In 2018, Bhaskar goes back to at least one of the islands to witness the long-lasting aftermath. Given the fact that we viewed many beautiful shorelines and turtles in the recreated scenes of his life, it’s not clear if these locations were subsequently cleaned up or if other locations served to represent some of those islands in Bhaskar’s story.
Ultimately, what the film does is present a loving portrait of not only Bhaskar but also of the turtles which so fascinated him. His dedicated journey is quite impressive, making the call to continue his legacy and research all the more important.
Turtle Walker is having its world premiere at DOCNYC on Sunday, November 17th. It will be available for viewers to watch online via the festival’s streaming platform from November 18th until December 1st. Go to https://www.docnyc.net/film/turtle-walker/ for more details.
For the archive of PalCinema reviews, click here.
