An attempt at gathering thoughts --

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Not a spoiler alert

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But I just want you to get a copy of the movie and watch it first. ^_^

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Since I watched The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou last night, I’ve been trying to put into words my thoughts about that movie.

The movie begins with a statement – a simple, straightforward statement from the main character, Steve: “I'm going to go on an overnight drunk, and in 10 days I'm going to set out to find the shark that ate my friend and destroy it.” The statement is reminiscent of the one Melville’s Ishmael makes in the beginning of Moby Dick and brings with it the same sort of problem: he is chasing after something that may or may not exist – he is his own witness and the test is how strongly he believes in himself.

Steve Zissou has a lot going against him. He hasn’t made a successful documentary in nine years, his wife is indifferent to him, he recently lost one of his closest colleagues and he is being challenged by another oceanographer who appears to have a lot going for him.

Despite the obstacles, Zissou presses on. It becomes a quest for completion: the documentary he shows at the beginning of the film is “part 1” and he does say there will be a part 2. It is also a quest for completion in his own life: to find and avenge the death of his friend; to figure out who Ned is to him, etc.

Ambiguity is one of the main devices used in the film – we see this in Steve Zissou’s quest for the Jaguar Shark and also in the introduction of Ned Plimpton’s character. Steve has to decide whether Ned is really his son from another woman or not. The whole idea of “revealing in half concealing” gives one the sense of being on the brink of something and the choice to be made is to either take the leap or to turn around.

Zissou takes the leap and so do we (otherwise, we would have stopped watching the movie ^_^). Midway through the movie, Steve's faith is challenged: first, by Cate Blanchett's character (she questions his abilities as an oceanographer and rejects his advances) and then by an encounter with pirates and then with a "mutiny" by some of his crew and lastly by a terrible tragedy but Steve gathers himself and moves forward and we are all rewarded for that.

At the end of the movie, we realize that simple statements are anything but simple – Steve Zissou proves this with the many twists that he encounters in his quest for the Jaguar Shark. There are never straightforward paths from point A to point B, instead we accept that life is an adventure and we embrace everything that happens to us, good and bad.