This documentary caught my interest right away when it came up in my suggested titles list on Netflix. I watched it the same night I saw it was out- 2 days later, I'm still reeling from shock.

Dazzled and agape at the treasures a team of divers, scientists, and historical consultants brought up from the seabed off the East African coast, dating back to the first century C.E., this 'documentary' had me fooled from the very beginning right up until the very end. When the credits rolled, first I felt let down- so all those incredible artifacts were a modern farce? Not done by the masters of the classical world, but rather some hipster from the UK? But then something happened- the full metaphor, the bait-and-switch, the insight into the human condition and the desire to believe the incredible and extraordinary, and all the incredibly thoughtful and risky endeavors to make both the art and the documentary real, it came crashing down on me, and I realized that the documentary and the exhibition were both masterpieces.

What an incredible thrill as the cerberus, Medusa bust and that giant hydra statue came up! Not to mention that huge golden disk. It was like seeing the sun itself. So beautiful, so priceless, so mysterious, so majestic. A few times I caught myself thinking "I can't believe this is real, this must be one of the most important discoveries in history! How extraordinary that this exists in the world again now." How indeed.

The thing is, the artist made it clear from the very start- with the title even- that this was a concept exhibition, with believing in the unbelievable being the main concept. And after watching it a second time in 2 days (don't judge me), there are so. many. clues. throughout the film that make it fairly obvious that this wasn't a real excavation. The artists uses our preconceived notions ("maybe this is modern? Nah, I mean, why the hell would they bother sinking this stuff just to make a fake documentary about it?") and our desire to believe the incredible (the story, the beauty, the discovery, the history) to create another layer of meaning on top of his already amazing art exhibition.

With all the beauty of classic fine arts and aesthetics, and all the metaphor and abstractness of contemporary art, Damien Hirst (the artist) creates something truly brilliant, truly exceptional. Usually I find contemporary art to be oddly esoteric or trying a little too hard to be truly brilliant or special. Many will disagree with me and I understand completely, but this documentary, and the exhibit, blew my mind in ways most art never can. It's symbolism carved new holes in my brain.

My only complaint on how this was handled is that they crafted just the one story for the 'wreckage', which puts the imagination down one linear path. For how big of a concept this was, I wish they'd spared one or two more ideas on how the treasure got to be where it was. Otherwise, this was a masterpiece of an idea.

Would love to know the community's thoughts on the matter.