You think you know what a nature documentary looks like. Usually, it's a soothing British voice-over, some sweeping drone shots of the tundra, and maybe a predator chasing its prey in slow motion. Haulout isn't that. It’s something else entirely. It's a short film that feels more like a slow-burn horror movie than a scientific study, and honestly, that’s why it stuck with people so hard after its 2022 release and subsequent Oscar nomination.
The film follows Maxim Chakilev. He’s a biologist. He lives in a hut that looks like it’s held together by rust and sheer willpower on the remote coast of the Russian Arctic. For the first few minutes, you’re just watching a guy wait. It’s quiet. It’s lonely. Then, the wind shifts.
The Reality of the Haulout Short Film That Nobody Mentions
People talk about "climate change" as this abstract thing, but the Haulout short film makes it claustrophobic. When Maxim opens his door and sees 100,000 walruses crammed onto a tiny patch of beach, it’s not "majestic." It’s a nightmare. The sound alone—this guttural, wet, roaring cacophony—is enough to make you want to turn the volume down. But you don't. You can't.
Why are they there? That’s the crux of the whole thing. Walruses need sea ice to rest. When the ice melts because the ocean is too warm, they have no choice but to swim to the nearest bit of land. The problem is that thousands of ten-ton animals trying to occupy the same square meter of dirt leads to a "haulout." It’s essentially a biological stampede.
Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev, the sibling directors behind the camera, didn't use a script. They didn't need one. They just let the camera sit there in the mud and the salt. You see the exhaustion in Maxim’s eyes. He isn't some hero scientist saving the day; he’s a witness to a slow-motion catastrophe. He spends his days counting the bodies of the calves that were crushed in the huddle. It’s brutal.
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The Visual Language of a Dying Arctic
Most films about the environment try to guilt-trip you. They use statistics. They show graphs. Haulout just shows you a walrus trying to climb a sheer cliff face because there’s no room left on the beach. You watch this massive creature struggle, slip, and fall. It’s heartbreakingly human in its desperation.
The cinematography is surprisingly bleak. The colors are muted—greys, browns, deep blues. It reflects the isolation of the Chukotka peninsula. You’re looking at the edge of the world. Honestly, the most shocking part isn't even the number of walruses; it’s the silence that follows when they finally leave. The beach is just... empty. Except for the ones that didn't make it.
Why This Short Film Hits Differently Than a Feature Documentary
Short films often get overlooked. People want a two-hour epic. But the Haulout short film proves that 25 minutes is more than enough to leave a permanent scar on your psyche. It’s efficient. There’s no fluff. No talking heads. No experts sitting in well-lit offices in London or D.C. explaining the "impact on the ecosystem."
- The pacing is erratic. It mimics the life of the biologist—long stretches of nothingness followed by terrifying intensity.
- The sound design is raw. There is no soaring orchestral score to tell you how to feel. You just hear the wind and the grunts.
- The scale is deceptive. You think you’re looking at rocks until the rocks start moving.
Maxim’s hut becomes a cage. At one point, the walruses are so packed against his door that he can’t even leave. He is literally trapped by the consequences of a warming planet. It’s a metaphor that’s a bit on the nose, sure, but since it actually happened, you can’t really argue with the symbolism.
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The Scientific Context You Need to Know
While the film is artistic, the science behind it is terrifyingly real. Marine biologists have been tracking these massive gatherings for years. In the past, these haulouts happened occasionally, but now they are an annual occurrence. The lack of sea ice in the Chukchi Sea is the primary driver.
When walruses are forced onto land, they are far from their feeding grounds. They get stressed. They get tired. If a polar bear or even a low-flying plane scares them, the resulting panic causes the larger males to crush the smaller females and calves. It’s a population bottleneck that scientists are watching in real-time. Maxim Chakilev has been documenting this for over a decade, and the numbers are not trending in a good direction.
What Most People Miss About the Ending
The ending of the Haulout short film isn't a call to action. It’s not a "sign this petition" moment. It’s a realization. As Maxim packs up his gear and leaves the station, he looks back at the desolate landscape. The ice is gone. The walruses are gone. The cycle has been broken.
The film doesn't offer a solution because, frankly, there isn't an easy one. It’s a document of a world that is already gone. We aren't waiting for the change anymore; we’re just watching the aftermath. That’s what makes it "human-quality" storytelling. It doesn't treat the audience like children. It assumes you can handle the bleakness.
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Actionable Steps for Those Who Want to Dig Deeper
If you’ve watched the film and feel that pit in your stomach, don't just sit there. There are ways to engage with the reality of the Arctic without feeling completely helpless.
- Follow the work of the Arbugaeva siblings. Their photography and filmmaking focus on the intersection of indigenous cultures and environmental shifts in the North. Understanding the human element is key.
- Support the World Wildlife Fund’s Arctic Program. They actually work on the ground in places like Chukotka to mitigate human-wildlife conflict during these haulout events.
- Check out the "The Last Ice" by National Geographic. It provides a broader geopolitical context for why the ice is disappearing and who stands to gain from it.
- Watch the film on a big screen with good speakers. If you watched it on your phone, you missed half the experience. The scale matters.
The Haulout short film is a masterpiece of restraint. It shows us that nature isn't just something to be "saved"—it's a force that is suffering, and we are the only ones left to watch it happen. It’s uncomfortable, it’s loud, and it’s absolutely essential viewing for anyone who thinks the climate crisis is a "future" problem. It's happening now. Right on Maxim's doorstep.
Next Steps:
To truly understand the impact, look up the satellite imagery of the Cape Heart-Stone haulouts from the last five years. Comparing the visual data to the ground-level footage in the film provides a haunting perspective on the sheer scale of the displacement. You should also look into the "Arctic Report Card" issued by NOAA, which breaks down the specific temperature anomalies Maxim was dealing with during that season. Reading the data alongside the visuals makes the experience much more visceral.