Puff: Wonders of the Reef — A Small Creature, A Big Reflection of Life
Though without much fanfare, Puff: Wonders of the Reef quietly made its way onto Netflix in late 2021. There was no franchise-sized marketing push, no red-carpet premiere, and no blockbuster release. Rather, it was a soft, luminous whisper from the ocean — a tale from the perspective of a baby pufferfish, Puff, as it navigates the wonders and dangers of the Great Barrier Reef. This documentary’s striking visuals and gentle narration contributed to its uniqueness, but what stood out most was the documentary’s heartfelt connection with its audience, especially with those whose own Puff-like, fragile, and curious journeys inspired reflections of resilience.
For Indian audiences, who have emotionally engaging with nature stories since the days of the Jungle Book and with the modern offerings of Planet Earth, Puff resonated even more deeply. It wasn’t primarily about marine life; it was about growing up, about a young pufferfish adapting, and most importantly, surviving in a world filled with constant change.
A Journey as Gentle as It Is Brave
In Puff: Wonders of the Reef, directed by Nick Robinson and narrated by Rose Byrne, follows a juvenile pufferfish as he learns to find his way through the vibrant and perilous underwater world. Puff, the title character, learns to navigate the glistening coral formations and discovers the dangers of underwater predators. Puff’s combative and perilous exploration also captures the attention of fabulous macro underwater photography. There are frames in each episode that are filled with life, pulsating coral polyps, drifting sea slugs, and transparent shrimp. The image that stays with one hath to be the close-up of the reef and polyps. It is as though one is peering into an alien world.
Exploration is innocent and change is inevitable, and science cannot deny that. There is a transformation and in Puff’s story of growing self reliance, we see the Indian tale of coming of age. The old fables tell of the smallest and wisest of creatures and carry deep insight. They tell of the change and transformation.
Puff’s coral forests remind one of every Indian life’s moment of uncertainty. As students prepare for their first exam and families move to a big city for a fresh start, uncertainty is always there. Puff’s journey is a tribute to endurance, and endurance is an inseparable part of every Indian’s life.
People Behind Puff’s World
After a long and difficult journey, Puff’s Wonders of the Reef crew worked to bring his world to life. It was a journey of patience, experience, and technology. Director Nick Robinson, a natural history filmmaker, worked with a small team of passionate divers and marine biologists. They filmed Puff’s world over a year, diving several times a day and waiting unplugged for these hours to capture the perfect moment.
Unpredictable and alive, the reef was both the subject and a character. The team was constantly challenged by the variants in the weather, the changes in the water’s clarity and temperature. Some of the most captivating sequences, the coral spawning scene for instance, were filmed after many days of failed attempts. It was even said that one dive had to be aborted mid-way because the currents had shifted and come dangerously close to a fragile camera set up.
Even Rose Byrne’s narration was meticulously thought out. She was widely recognized for her roles in Bridesmaids and Instant Family. Puff’s story was filled with a gentle curiosity and Byrne’s tone was that of a close friend rather than a distant narrator. It sounded as though a mother was present to guide a child through a bedtime story. In her interviews, she stated that while doing the voice over she felt “oddly protective” of Puff, stating that she would often pause mid-sentence as the little fish narrowly escaped a predator.
There’s a tenderness in that, an emotional collaboration between human and nature that transcends geography.
When Indian Eyes Met the Reef
In India, Puff: Wonders of the Reef found a surprising following among families, teachers, and even the spiritual community. On social media, people started making connections between Puff’s bravery and Indian philosophies, particularly atma-vikas. Puff’s journey was seen as a reflection of the world (samsara) and the challenges that one must navigate with a sense of awareness and adaptability.
Certain educators used the documentary’s clips for teaching marine conservation, while others focused on the more emotional angle — Puff’s journey as a representation of childhood. It was particularly nostalgic for Indian parents watching with their children, for the time of their youth — a time when rasas (emotions) were pure and the world was filled with inexplicable wonder.
For Indian environmentalists, Puff’s delicate world mirrored India’s ecological concerns — the bleached corals of Lakshadweep, plastic waste along the Konkan coast, and the shrinking mangroves of the Sundarbans. Though the challenges of the reef were global, the environmentalists felt a local connection.
How Technology Made the Ocean Breathe
The magic behind Puff stems from innovative talent. The project Puff used miniature micro cameras strapped to the filmmaker’s bodies. Underwater cinematographers, including Pete West, crafted custom underwater camera systems to allow them to track and film creatures the size of one’s fingernail without disturbing them.
The crew invested incredible effort to achieve the Puff sequence of the camera gliding over the coral. Capturing the light over Puff’s skin and documenting the coral was the result of 300 hours of film material. Most of this effort was to enable the cinematic illusion of Puff and the coral. Missing contemplated moments of film were hours where divers at seabed were motionless, awaiting the emergence of stationary creatures like shrimp and snails.
As Nick Robinson once put it, “the slowest kind of filmmaking in the fastest-moving world”. That meditative approach is what contributes to the Puff’s depth. It illustrates the Indian philosophy of shraddha, implying the greater the beauty, the greater the surrender and the control over it.
Things Viewers Overlooked in the Documentary Beneath the Waves
For most people who watched the film, the stunning visuals and Puff’s playful interactions were the most unforgettable features. But unfortunate details went unappreciated. Take, for example, the baby pufferfish scenes in the documentary. There didn’t just follow one juvenile puffer. They tracked multiple juvenile puffers in various sections of the reef, a technique used in storytelling and continuity in wildlife films like March of the Penguins.
Another interesting bit of information revolves around the spawning of the coral scene, which people describe as almost magical. But in truth, the scene was shot under tremendous pressure with a two-hour, once-a-year, shooting window. If the crew missed the opportunity, they would have to wait an entire year to capture the spawning. Fortunately, the coral sequence was a visual poem of creation and renewal, and one of the emotional high points of the film.
There was also the issue of color correction. The editors had to make hinges coral reefs perceive light in the underwater world and the above the water world and subsequently add the appropriate color. This is why the reef appears as warm and emotionally alive in a dreamlike state to a point that is almost surreal.
The Soul Beneath the Science
The distinctive quality of Puff: Wonders of the Reef is the awareness it embodies. It is a reminder that every being, no matter how small, has a rhythm, a fear, and a purpose. Puff the documentary in no way romanticizes Puff in a predator/prey cartoonish manner. Rather, it is the child watching a young Puff stream in the documentary, and dodging and evading the predators and finding food and fishing Puff is forced to put every instinctive, prescient every fierce and pale reflex of a child.
Puff the films, is without a doubt, the most pervasive. It is certainly not because Puff is preoccupied with the story of conquest. Puff narrates a story of coexistence. It’s a story of finding the balance in chaotic unorganized, arrogant, domineering. There is a myth of the no-escape ego and the humblest infinitesimal, the puff being the centre of the universe.