Malala Yousafzai finds connection in documentary Last of the Sea Women | Canada Voices

You would be forgiven for not knowing that Malala Yousafzai is in the TV business. The youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate is better known for her activism in support of a girl’s right to education and women’s rights around the world.

But she also loves a good story, which is how her production company, in partnership with Apple TV+, became a key decision-maker behind The Last of the Sea Women, a new documentary that follows the lives and activism of haenyeo, women divers in South Korea. By the time Yousafzai became involved, the film’s director Sue Kim had been pitching for a while. The concept was yielding positive responses but there was no greenlight, with feedback being that it was too niche.

Yousafzai felt differently. “This story stood out to me because of how unique it is,” she said in an interview at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, where the documentary had its world premiere. “When I first heard about it from Sue, three years ago, I had just announced my production company. I thought there was no better project to begin with.”

The Last of the Sea Women tells the story of a group of haenyeo who practice the tradition of free diving without scuba gear. They hold their breath for long minutes, diving with a sharp tool in hand to harvest sea creatures including abalone, spiky sea urchins, sea cucumbers and even small octopuses. It’s dangerous, exhilarating work and to do it right, they need each other.

“There are universal themes that reverberate throughout this community, of sisterhood, kinship, preservation of the ocean and how to preserve ancient traditions as we progress into modern culture,” Kim says. “There are so many themes that, to me, don’t feel niche.”

“I think it took someone like Malala that doesn’t come from a very specifically Western mindset of like, What’s going to play well in middle America? She has a global background. I think that was the perspective shift we needed in order to actually find the right partner for this film.”

Yousafzai agrees. “When I started this production company, I had to make a strong case for the fact that people will enjoy content that comes from, you know, these “niches,” or more diverse communities,” Yousafzai says as she makes air quotes.

“I’m Pakistani, I am brown and I’m Muslim, but I still enjoyed Ted Lasso. I enjoy Succession. I enjoy all of these TV shows. Like, I’m watching Severance. It is entertaining to me. So why can’t somebody find the stories of women in South Korea entertaining and inspiring?”

The women of this documentary are real-life stars, doing their best to keep their ocean-foraging culture alive, diving in all seasons and defying the odds of aging. The haenyeo are almost uniformly senior citizens, as younger generations turn their backs on this tough, physical labour. Seeing what women in their 60s and 70s can do in a wetsuit will make you question so much about your own choices and physical strength, with awe and delight.

“They are in incredible shape,” Kim says, admitting she was surprised. “There is a 90-year-old haenyeo in the film, none of us could keep up with her.”

While underwater cinematography shows them in their element, the most watchable scenes are on land (featuring the work of Toronto cinematographer Iris Ng), when the women are loud and free and at their most compelling. In one scene, a group gathers in the morning, a grumpy rift arising. Weren’t they supposed to meet at 7 am? Was it 7:30? They greet each other by shouting about the time, before one haenyeo jovially begs for forgiveness, cracking everyone up. Watching them disagree loudly, before laughing at themselves and each other, is as refreshing as bracing saltwater. The scene finishes as they amble away, pulling on wetsuits and piling onto a flatbed truck and ATVs to speed off toward the ocean. Their lined faces feel familiar and impressive and strong.

The haenyeo are infamous and celebrated in their own country. Jeju women have a reputation for being tough.

“But when I got to know them,” Kim says, “I found them to be the complete opposite. They’re so loving and caring, always asking if I’ve eaten and trying to feed our crew sea urchins while we were filming. There’s a level of nurturing and caretaking that I knew existed amongst themselves as a sisterhood, but to experience it ourselves, to be so well-loved by them and so well taken care of, was really touching.”

The sold-out crowd at TIFF were also moved. Two haenyeo had traveled from Jeju to Toronto to see what the fuss was about, joining Kim and Yousafzai on stage at the screening. One haenyeo, 72-year-old Soon Deok Jang, was overcome with emotion, covering her face as the audience gave two standing ovations.

The power of their story lies in knowing their way of life may go extinct exactly when we need it most – fiercely feminine, collaborative and sustainable in its DNA, their style of gathering food from the ocean is a way of life that may succumb forever to more dominant, profit-driven ways of mass extraction from the planet. This film functions as entertainment but it’s also a historical document in a crucial moment.

Watch the film for the ocean and landscape visuals, the quiet, vulnerable moments with women who could be your grandma, and a stunning shamanic ritual scene no fiction film could have shot and edited better. Korean music, featuring rousing women’s voices, from rapper Jessi to shamanic-rock band, ADG7, propel the story. Most of all, watch to be inspired, especially as the women band together to fight the Japanese government’s decision to release more than one million tonnes of wastewater accumulated from the Fukushima nuclear disaster of 2011.

The world is complicated. But the energy these women bring to each other and to their collective action, is not. It’s the power of generational wisdom, passed down from the daily practice of many lifetimes.

As Yousafzai says, “Their story connects us.”

Not niche at all.

The Last of the Sea Women streams on Apple TV+ starting Oct. 11.