I had exactly the same feeling. I didn't sympathise with the guy's situation either. South Africa has massive inequality problems and this guy is living the life in one of the most expensive places you can live (easily rivaling European cities) and he abandons his family over writer's block?!

All of that also made me question the entire narrative of the friendship with the octopus. I'm sure it's possible, but it's also easy to edit things to fit a narrative if you're a documentary film maker. I'm probably just being cynical though...