Le Monde Sans Soleil

I had low expectations of the film due to a second winning of an Academy Award by Jacques Cousteau. I was elevated to the summit of amazement based on the technologies, narration, and visuals of the underwater experiment of living in the ocean.

The same format existed as the first film- a futuristic flying saucer shaped submarine floating into the deep depths of the sea. In the film Le Monde Du Silence, the first scene had divers go deeper for explorations and analysis. I was impressed how the men lived, researched, and maintained their livelihood in an underwater habitat with the narration of Cousteau. Only a few can experience a life. The men, who were assigned for the project, were called Oceanauts. The world is fascinating by seeing the life for the first time - marine life in shapes of land and sky animals. The sights reminded me of the research with biofluourescence. A great book based on the subject is called A Glow in the Dark by Vincent Pieribone and David Gruber. Organisms have a natural lighting mechanism while moving in water.

Cousteau explained and filmed daily routines on a station system where there are three types of elevation levels. Rations and supplies had to travel in pressure containers from above and to the deepest station. The Oceanauts had to travel from one station to the next to sustain the life of the crew. There was a supply of air elements which had to be adjusted according to the human intake. Cameras were set and monitored for research and safely. There was even a parrot in the mix.

The men had numerous duties and had to battled tight quarters and psychological challenges from isolation and adjusting to a life underwater. Due to lack of sun, they had to lay on a UV bed. Each man had responsibilities and gather specimens for documentation and analysis as divers. There was an onsite lab in the station.

It was fascinating to see life unknown to man before the project. I could watch this film again. I watched a couple of films based on a clear glass tubing system which people can travel and live in water stations and homes. The film added to this realistic imagery of man living underwater.