Haulout

We hear the walruses before we see them, but their sheer number and proximity to marine biologist Maxim Chakilev's beach shack still comes as a shock. He spends months in this tiny, ramshackle home every year, in Chukotka in the Siberian Arctic, watching and documenting the animals as they come ashore.

Why there are so many of them is revealed at the end of this Oscar-shortlisted documentary and, perhaps, a line or two about that right up front would have been better placement, allowing us to think about the reasons why so many animals are crammed on to this beach as we watch the footage from filmmaking siblings Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev rather than afterwards. Like so many ecological problems on the planet, climate change is driving them. Where previously they used to be able to take a breather between fishing on ice floes, now they have to come ashore, with the crowded conditions leading to fighting, stampeding and many not making it back to the sea at all.

The filmmakers quietly observe Chakilev as he goes about his business. Before the walruses come, we see him looking out to see for them, then sitting on the top of a cliff smoking. Given the cramped nature of his beach hut home, it's testimony to the filmmaking that he never acknowledges the camera. Chakilev and the animals seem oblivious to it, whether he's trying to shoo a couple of interloping walruses out of the door with a broom, eating fish from a can, or breaking up old cigarette stubs for roll-ups given that the see of walruses outside presumably make it impossible to nip to the shops.

It's an incredible sight and one which feels wrong even at a glance. These animals are clearly none too happy about being in such close proximity to one another but have been left with little alternative. The documentarians choose their shots wisely, with judicious drone footage bringing home the enormity of the issue. The quiet nature of the film also leaves space to think about its implications, especially as we see Chakilev documenting the dead animals near its end. A melancholy tribute to Chakilev's dedication and further evidence of the damage the climate crisis is causing.