“[Ocean Ramsey] always had this control over the situation”, says fellow diver Juan Oliphant, one of her collaborators. On a chance encounter, Ramsey is able to safely swim with sharks, Oliphant in charge of photography. During these photography and filming sessions, one can see humans and many sharks in harmony, sharing the big blue ocean. She has a motto during dives most see as dangerous – accept the risks, acknowledge them, and move on. The more she does these, the more she watches the sharks’ conversations, confirming that they’re sentient beings. With Oliphant, she goes on these dives to deter a public who also hunt sharks for their fins.

I’ve probably written before that nature documentaries are easy because nature is mostly pleasing to most viewers. This one is no exception, especially because of one of the filmmakers behind it – James Reed. Reed won an Academy Award for another documentary about the ocean and one of its creatures – My Octopus Teacher. Working with JP Stiles and Harrison Macks, Shark Whisperer switches between deep ocean photography and interview scenes. The latter is a customary aspect of the genre, sure, but they always bring out, mostly, its subject’s strengths. Ramsey’s time in the interview chair captures a pragmatism that she both needs underwater and on land.

There are moments when Ramsey reads as cold even while discussing something that she is obviously passionate about. I’ll chalk that up to an instinct to not be seen as stereotypical, an emotional woman. Some coldness is necessary when talking about a controversial subject like some subjects in Shark Whisperer. Thankfully, those are just moments and not a uniform quality that Ramsey possesses because warmth comes out. Most of that warmth comes through voice overs, as she recollects the ‘conversations’ she has with some sharks. She asks a shark if they remember her, and in some of the footage, there’s a twinkle in the shark’s eyes.

Thankfully, Shark Whisperer doesn’t just show Ramsey’s relationships with the sharks – she also has relationships with some humans. Not all of the humans agree with her pro-shark stance, most of them being straight out haters. Others, though, show their dissent with nuance, like filmmaker friend who knows that sharks are capable of. But thankfully, most of the human subjects in this documentary are allies to Ramsey, particularly Oliphant. She speaks lovingly of him the way she does the sharks, saying that she can’t be an activist without his help. That love does come across for the most part, a quality she possesses as she fights for animals that aren’t popular.

Stream Shark Whisperer on Netflix.