`Living Sea' at IMAX presents P.C. view of man and ocean

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RATING: * * *

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by Amy McKay

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The Living Sea is a cinematographic journey through the sea with a special look at its relevance to modern society.

Ten years in the making, the film explores many aspects of the ocean. The camera doesn't just show an amazing view of the giant kelp off California that can grow a foot a day but takes the viewer-turned-diver all the way up with the surfers to ride under the waves and through the foam.

The script allows the narrator, Meryl Streep, to sneak in the educational aspect without which an IMAX film just wouldn't be complete. But you almost don't notice as th six-story screen presents you with a million little cauliflower-like jelly- fish that have lost their need to sting.

Intermittently, the audience is introduced to the mini-islands of Palau, where life is relatively untainted by Western civilization, and the islanders treat the ocean "like a garden, never taking more than they needed."

Are you beginning to sense a message here?

The point is made just a bit less subtle by repeated strains of Sting singing that we are like the ocean: "How fragile we are."

This message is illustrated again by the camera's dramatic shots of a Coast Guard boat being battered by the waves or descending into the deep toxic layer of a lake where the divers can remain in safety for only 45 seconds.

The aerial shots of the ocean are breathtaking when they are blown up larger than life.

The deeper the camera gets, the easier it is to become distracted. You'll wonder how this unruly camera could get such clear shots without natural light. These scenes take place so far beneath the surface of the ocean that, of ocurse, not much natural light remains.

But in case you have forgotten, Streep, Sting and the Palau islander are back to remind you that "we live because the sea lives" and "all life on earth is a celebration of the living sea."

Try not to let the environmentalist message dissuade you. The Living Sea is a well-done, even thrilling at times, journey through the world's oceans, which the film points out are really one ocean.

If you can get over the preachiness of The Living Sea , you are sure to enjoy the trip.

This item appeared in the Arts & Entertainment section of the October 27, 1995 issue.

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