KEY POINTS:
Headlines containing the words "attack" and "know your enemy" don't do much for our understanding of sharks. Neither did Jaws, which screened recently on TV2. Probably not the best thing to have watched before heading off to Matarangi for a dip.
So perhaps Shark Week on Sky's Discovery
Channel has come along at a good time. With 12 hours of shark footage, there's ample opportunity to learn about their behaviour, why attacks on humans occur, and what we can do to avoid them. Or at least, get a fix of shark porn that doesn't treat the subject like a piece of meat.
So far we've had Monday night's Ocean of Fear, (narrated by Richard Dreyfuss who starred in Jaws), Tuesday's Eaten Alive and Wednesday's Dirty Jobs That Bite. I saw Eaten Alive, a collection of shark-bite survivors' tales, set to foreboding music (like Jaws) and with the kind of deep-voiced American narration usually reserved for those awful shows where they re-enact disasters.
This was pure Hollywood, told through a combination of real footage, re-enactment and interviews with the victims. It was certainly compelling viewing, if a little sensationalist, building up through horror-film music, then focusing on the trauma of the attacks and the bloody aftermath.
Among the victims were two Kiwis, an abalone fisherman who escaped a great white's jaws and lost an arm in the Chatham Islands, and a former Sky TV publicist who was bitten in shark-infested waters in Vanuatu.
The doco made a small attempt to downplay the evil beast theme it had just set up by explaining it wasn't the sharks' fault; the victims were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time - particularly the one who was swimming in a former dumping ground for a meat processing plant when a tiger shark took a chunk from her leg. And while fear is an essential ingredient in any shark doco, so often that clouds the science, the psychology and the logic behind the real nature of the animals.
Much more sympathetic, fascinating and emotional viewing can be seen on Saturday (7.30pm). No matter what your interest in sharks, do not miss Sharkman, a rip-roaring two-hour film with more wow moments than Jaws.
Michael Rutzen is a South African shark expert who has studied the great whites so closely he thinks like one and can safely swim with them without a cage. He's learned that touching the end of the shark's super-sensitive snout can induce a catatonic state called tonic immobility. His plan is to induce this state in a great white. It might sound like lunacy but Rutzen is practically a shark-whisperer who reveals the beasts' personalities and plays with them as though they're just sharp-toothed puppies. Rutzen's quest is to show the world sharks are not the narrow-minded killing machines they're made out to be - and he succeeds, thanks to a brave film crew who capture hours of awe-inspiring footage of Rutzen touching the sharks underwater.
His journey takes him around the world, where he learns from experts who work with sharks of smaller, less dangerous species. There are remarkable shots of him virtually hypnotising a Caribbean reef shark, nuzzling the snout of a tiger shark and a heart-pounding sequence in which he's surrounded by eight great whites in water that is getting dangerously murky.
The doco ends on a poignant note, showing Rutzen riding on the back of a great white, as calmly as if he's Paikea in Whale Rider.
Best of all, the documentary forgoes the alarmist tone for one of respect and caution. The fear will never disappear but we're given a greater appreciation of how sharks perceive humans - foreigners who pose a threat until they're deemed otherwise. In the meantime, check out Shark Feeding Frenzy tonight and Shark Attack Survivors tomorrow before you go for that swim.
