Even before 'The Deepest Breath' premiered on Netflix, I anticipated its major impact, thanks to my daily freediving Google news alerts. Several weeks before it came out on Netflix, almost everyday at least one review article appeared in my inbox, and often times multiple articles per day. This never happened for other freedive-related movies on Netflix like ‘No Limit’, or ‘Hold Your Breath: The Ice Dive’. 

The freediving depth competition that was featured in the documentary, Vertical Blue, started its 2023 iteration a day after the documentary premiered on Netflix. On the live stream on Youtube of the competition, I saw numerous comments like  “here because of the Netflix documentary”. Watching freediving competitions when it's filmed using Diveye Technology can be pretty cool to watch as you can follow the divers all the way down to their target depth. 

In this blog post, I aim to briefly delve into the documentary's influence on the sport of freediving and the insights we can glean from it.

DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD

I understand the pull and interest a tragic story has and nearly every single movie about freediving ends in tragedy (if someone knows of a freediving movie that doesn’t, let me know), and (spoiler alert) this is no different.

On the one hand, this shapes the public perception that freediving is an extremely dangerous sport. Which conjures the questions, is freediving dangerous? Well, it depends. Long of the short of it, if you are an untrained freediving, it can be very dangerous, not so much if you are trained and following protocol. You can learn more about it on Episode 2 of my podcast The Total Beginner Freedive Podcast.

But, this is also quite possibly the most significant event to happen to the growth of freediving in its history (arguably it could be the invention of Instagram). I thought it would be Avatar 2 but the freediving element in the movie was lost on most viewers. My podcast The Total Beginner Freedive Podcast monthly downloads doubled after the movie came out and I’ve heard similar numbers from other freediving content creators. I’ve already signed up new students because of it as the movie sparked interest in taking up freediving. 

Before I proceed further, I must mention, if you are thinking about learning freediving, taking a freedive course is the best and safest way to get into it. There is no other way to learn it that I can endorse. 

DIFFERENT THAN US

One of the main characters, Alessia Zecchini has a drive in her that most people cannot relate to, one where a fear of death is not even a thought. The casual audience should understand that Alessia is not like 99% of the active freedivers out there. Thus we should not judge an entire sport based upon its far edges like Alessia. It would be like not wanting to drive your normal car down a normal street after seeing a tragic accident in a Formula 1 race.

Stephen was the chief safety at Vertical Blue competition featured in the documentary and widely known as the best safety diver in the world and equally loved by the freediving community as he was good at safety. However, it's a somber reminder that even with the very best, attempting such great feats can be tragic when some elements are left uncontrolled. 

LEARNING FROM MISTAKES

AIDA, a freediving governing body, did a comprehensive investigation into the accident and published a report on its findings. 

They concluded that the dive “was well organized”. 

However, an unfortunate chain of events was set in motion when Stephen started his dive late thus arriving late to the bottom. 

AIDA in the last few years have really disappointed me in many ways after pioneering freedive education over two decades ago, but I applaud their effort into the comprehensive report of this tragedy. They also issued a similar report following the only in-competition death of Nick Mevoli in 2013. 

Because of these reports and transparency the sport can change for the better in particular being prepared for the worst possible case scenario. And that’s what we should all do as freedivers, whether we are recreational or professional, which will keep us all safe. 

In the end, "The Deepest Breath" made a lot of people notice freediving. The movie showed how cool and risky the sport can be. While some divers, like Alessia Zecchini, do really daring dives, most freedivers are not like that. It's important to remember that diving deep can be dangerous, but with the right training, it can be safer. The movie reminds us to always be careful and learn the right way to dive. If you want to try freediving, it's best to take a course and learn the safe way.

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