David Attenborough’s latest doc could be the 99-year-old’s best yet

Now in his 100th year after celebrating his 99th birthday this week, broadcasting legend David Attenborough has another story to share with us - and it might be one of his greatest yet.

The passionate and no-nonsense documentarian is bringing one of his most ambitious projects to date to cinemas with this feature-length tale. Ocean is a rallying cry for action, a story of righteous anger in some of its details, but primarily a tale of hope in the power of nature.

It helps that it features some of the most stunning and groundbreaking images of the natural world ever brought to our screens, and some highly entertaining, charismatic and knowledgeable contributors.

Using the latest cutting-edge filmmaking technology, Ocean takes audiences deep below the surface of some of the world’s most unchartered waters. Coral reefs, kelp forests, dolphins, sea turtles, krill and albatrosses practically line up on screen for their close-ups in images that are both jaw-dropping and intimate.

There is darkness, too. In a filmmaking first, we see the shocking impact of bottom-trawling on the ocean’s sea bed, the colour of underwater life being drained from the screen before our eyes.

A film on a mission without ever feeling preachy, Ocean is a no-holds-barred account of what humanity is at risk of losing - and a positive and hopeful rallying cry about how some of our oceans are already returning to their former glory.

Ocean comes to our cinemas just as the UN moots the idea of getting countries to sign up to 30x30 - a plan to designate 30% of the world’s oceans as protected areas by 2030. In some parts of the world, this is already being enacted - and the results, to Attenborough’s joy, are remarkable.

Several positive examples are cited but the most fascinating is the recovery of Papahanaumokuakea, north of Hawaii, currently the largest fully protected area on the planet. New footage recorded by the filmmaking team depicts an abundance of life above and below the waves, from whale sharks to the mōlī seabird, which went from being perilously close to extinction to becoming the largest albatross colony in the world.

Our oceans, Attenborough reckons, are tougher than we thought.

“After living for nearly a hundred years on this planet, I now understand that the most important place on Earth is not on land, but at sea,” he says. “Wherever we have given the ocean time and space, it has recovered faster and on a greater scale than we dared to imagine possible. And it has the power to go even further.

“When I first saw the sea as a young boy, it was thought of as a vast wilderness to be tamed and mastered for the benefit of humanity. Now, as I approach the end of my life, we know the opposite is true.”

The Verdict: One of the great documentaries - a stunning looking tale of the power of nature from one of the screen’s greatest storytellers.

• For screenings near you, check out oceanfilm.net