Turtle Walker (2024) ‘DOC NYC’ Movie Review: A Rousing Human Interest Story Meets a Pertinent Cause in a Red Turtle-Esque Storytelling Style

Taira Malaney’s “Turtle Walker” (2024) revolves around Satish Bhaskar, an Indian biologist who devoted his life to preserving sea turtles. Although a biographical tale based on Bhaskar’s life, director Malaney treats his story like a fantasy adventure tale. From the get-go, it looks like a Ghibli film where refreshing colors grab your attention through neatly-composed frames. The sand appears in the prettiest tones of ochre while the sky and the ocean bring out tones of aquamarine almost with a pastel-like softness on a paper sheet. On top of that, it puts its two central subjects – a man and a turtle. So, it is near-impossible for it not to remind you of Michaël Dudok de Wit’s “The Red Turtle.”

“Turtle Walker” establishes itself with this pleasing visual tone to guide us through its protagonist’s inspiring tale. It covers relevant parts of Bhaskar’s life through his interview paired with dramatized versions of his days of youth. Rohan Joglekar, a surrealist in real life, plays Bhaskar’s younger version. His uncanny resemblance to Bhaskar helps you convince you of it without any clarification. Through those dramatic bits, the film follows the early parts of Bhaskar’s journey from when he became fascinated by the world of sea turtles and started researching their habitats through an idealistic hope of preservation.

Even in his seventies, Bhaskar speaks about these early experiences with the innocence, enthusiasm, and curiosity of his younger self. His eyes convey the same passion he once had for the sea turtles. He seems like a man of few words, who enjoys his solitude and cherishes the life he has built with his wife, Brenda. It becomes clear quite early in the film that he doesn’t care about being the center of attention. He did not do his meaningful work to be in the public eye. Instead, Bhaskar prefers living under the radar, keeping an ear out for updates on the biological changes. Unfortunately, he is confined to his house due to a rare condition he developed being stuck on a remote island for many months.

“Turtle Walker” treats Bhaskar’s life as a character-driven tale, by emphasizing the things that can make us resonate with his drive and resilience. It allows us to know him as a young man, who decided to pursue a vocation that people rarely cared about. It also offers a glimpse into his loving relationship with Brenda and how he fell in love with her as a young man. By doing so, the film keeps us interested in the factual, biological details that Bhaskar brought to life.

In the 1970s, Bhaskar traveled to Andaman and Nicobar Islands, by himself, in search of the sea turtle habitat. Although low on resources, he stayed patient and continued his work with a singular passion. He discovered leatherback turtles and learned about their ways of being. Throughout his solitary journey, he stayed faithful to his passion despite the difficulties he faced in a “Cast Away” manner. The film allows Bhaskar’s interiority to lead us on an awe-inspiring adventure where his soft-spoken speech makes us feel closer to him as a human being.

While a cause-driven inspirational tale at its core, “Turtle Walker” looks pristine, thanks to Krish Makhija’s gorgeous camerawork. His skills shine especially in the dramatized scenes where he places Joglekar along with the turtles in his razor-sharp frames. Everything looks so crystal-clear that you can notice the tiniest particles of sand from a turtle’s body or the shortest freckle on the protagonist’s face! Through that, you sense the amount of effort put into making it look this spectacular. Besides Makhija, the credit for the film’s clean, refreshing visual tone goes to the colorist Marco Amaral for the aforementioned reasons.

Speaking about the direction, Malaney paints a sentimental portrait of Satish Bhaskar’s true story filled with aerial shots and soaring music. These shots make you aware of Bhaskar’s literal insignificance on the wide, sandy, desolate beaches. Their graphic nature helps the film to appear more like an adventure about a man seeking peace in nature’s company. However, while these dramatized scenes are supposed to immerse you in his emotional journey, they often work against it. These scenes frequently take you off the moment due to an added layer of theatricality. Everything feels oddly staged in a way that limits the film’s appeal. Besides, Joglekar’s performance does not convey Bhaskar’s quiet fortitude as Bhaskar’s own words do.

There is nothing inherently wrong with using the kind of orchestral music “Turtle Walker” uses to create a similar emotional impact. In recent years, director Nagaraj Manjule implemented it beautifully in “Sairat.” However, that was a fictional feature based on factual horrors whereas “Turtle Walker” is a documentary using fiction as a narrative device. So, in this case, it feels overt and unnecessary considering the inherent charm and strength of Satish Bhaskar’s story.