In ‘Becoming Cousteau,’ diving into the depths of Jacques

NEW YORK (AP) — Who was Jacques-Yves Cousteau, exactly? He was an oceanographer and explorer but held no scientific degree. He was an environmentalist whose voyages were nevertheless sometimes funded by oil companies seeking drilling sites. He was a filmmaker who made otherworldly undersea documentaries but he disliked the term. He preferred “adventure films.” “Becoming Cousteau,” which National Geographic opens in theaters Friday, attempts to frame the singular Cousteau and his legacy as an early environmental defender of increasingly imperiled waters. It’s a defining documentary portrait of the French oceanographer as a fish only truly content below the surface.