REVIEW: ‘Billy And Molly: An Otter Love Story’ Highlights How Nature Can Awaken You

The National Geographic slate of documentaries for SXSW 2024 focused on love. In Billy and Molly: An Otter Love Story, filmmaker Charlie Hamilton James uses the unlikely family bond between a Scottish man named Billy and a wild river otter named Molly to highlight how our connections with wildlife can awaken something in us and inspire us to embrace nature.

In the film, Billy finds a wild otter desperately needing help washed up on his jetty in the remote Scottish islands of Shetland. Billy, his wife Susan, and their devoted sheepdog Jade find themselves with a unique new member of their family whom they nurse back to health with the goal of preparing her for the long winter.

Over the course of the film, we learn about what family means and how the smallest of creatures can fill parts of ourselves that we didn’t know were missing. The film isn’t saying anything too grand. It is just a heartwarming story about a man and his otter. However, the tenderness and empathy the documentary shows and its ending focus on being stewards of the land, even if it’s against what we want.

It’s a beautiful story, but it speaks to something well beyond the screen. Yes, it’s about a man and his otter, but it says so much more than that when it comes to life. It showcases that there are points in life that let you know can do more. Billy and Susan led a fine life. They have a house on a beautiful coast, each other, and a dog named Jade that they love. But when Molly comes into their life, everything becomes exciting, from feeding the young otter to making a space for her to sleep. The small tasks feel adventurous.

The film speaks to fostering an environment of being one with nature but also explains the boundaries that come with that coexistence. Billy and Molly: An Otter Love Story highlights the deeply personal relationship between the titular leads in this true story. Billy has some regrets for not having children, even though he isn’t as open about it. Molly walks into that void and makes him whole. She gives him purpose. The film does a great job of following the relationship over the short time that we see in the film, which is really just a few seasons.

Billy forms his connection with Molly and comes alive. But at the end of the day, Molly needs him too. They nurture each other. But that can’t continue forever. Molly is a free otter. She’s wild, and she can’t lose that. Instead, the audience watches as Billy realizes that he can’t be everything for her. He can feed her, love her, and even make her a little otter house with the family’s pictures inside. But when winter comes, she has to be able to survive on her own, lest he lose her to the wilderness.

When we see stories about love, whether paternal, platonic, or romantic, we’re often told that it has to be the end all be all for those involved. But that’s not real love. You can not be everything to someone else, but you can give them what they need to thrive without out.

It goes from Molly to Billy and the other way around. Molly can never be a human child, but she can give Billy a way to care for something—to nurture it, and teach it to live. Billy can’t migrate for winter with Molly. He can’t give her fish while she’s gone. He can’t make sure she has a place to sleep. But what both can do is leave each other with what they need to keep living. They both prepare each other for next step in life.

Ultimately, as a parent, you need to prepare your child to live without you. That’s exactly what Billy does. Billy and Molly: An Otter Love Story captures the beauty of love and the importance of letting each other go when you need to. A parent succeeds when they help their child be independent and thrive without them. This is what makes this documentary so beautiful.

Molly gets to keep her wild nature. She isn’t domesticated, and that’s the point. The overall ending message is that animals should be scared of humans and stay wild. Humans should also be stewards of nature. They can love it and help it grow, but there needs to be a respectful boundary. It doesn’t exist to separate the two but rather set how they engage. When you can do that, you can leave the world a little better than you found it.

If there is anything to critique in Billy and Molly: An Otter Love Story, it’s that there are large gaps in Billy and Susan’s life before Molly. However, at the same time, this isn’t a story about the two of them before Molly, but rather the ripples that the little otter pup sent through their life.

National Geographic’s dedication to telling powerful stories through small pictures of life is something to admire. Billy and Molly: An Otter Love Story is heartfelt and wholesome. At the same time, it also uses an intimate story to tell a larger one that helps the audience understand how we can and should interact with the world around us. How we can care for it through our actions and how we can protect it from the actions of others.

Billy and Molly: An Otter Love Story screened at the 2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival and is available for streaming on Disney+ and Hulu as part of National Geographic.