Film Tagged

My prerequisite for a movie is first to be entertained, second to connect to the story and third to learn something out of my own comfort zone.  Last night I saw the documentary ‘The Cove’ and it did just that.

The acclaimed documentary ‘The Cove’ is a brainchild of Director Louie Psihoyos, a wildlife photographer and co-founder of Oceanic Preservation Society, a group of passionate dolphin/sea life activist and Ric O’Barry.  Ric O’Barry found fame in the 60′s an 70′s when he trained 5 dolphins to play the dolphin ‘Flipper in the hit TV show of the late 60′s.  After a change of heart when one of the dolphin committed suicide in his arms he has committed himself to the plight of the Dolphins.

The documentary follows Ric O’Barry and Louie Psihoyos and their fight in Japan’s small village Kaiji where dolphins are slaughtered every season from September to March mercilessly.  The dolphins are trapped in a small cove where they pick out healthy dolphins for dolphin shows and venues where you can swim with the dolphins.  The sale of these mammals can go upwards of $150,000 USD.  The rest of the dolphin deemed not desirable for shows and spectators are slaughtered in the coves of Kaiji.  Thousands of dolphins are slaughtered every year in this immoral way.  Approximately 10,000 a year.  This is little known secret that even the general population of Japan have no clue to what’s happening their.  Ric O’Barry is frequently harassed and there is a media blackout in the village to avoid embarrassment to the Japanese.

The method of herding the dolphins are especially cruel.  The fisherman go out on their boots and pound on metal poles to make loud noises to distract and stress the dolphins which confuses them and scares them into the fisherman’s net that surrounds the cove area.  A dolphin’s hearing is like our eyesite, they rely on it for their survival.  There is a public display area where spectators can see the catching of the dolphins to be sold to aquariums and venues across the globe.  This is a legal and lucrative trade for the village fisherman.  But what happens to the rest of the dolphin is a big mystery, until now.

Whaling and fishing has always been a way of life for the Japanese.  In the documentary a Japanese official points out that in western countries we eat cows and chicken so it’s essentially the same thing.  Argument is over moral issues of how they are slaughtered.  Whaling and catching dolphin has been done for thousands of years in Japan and this is not a tradition that certain Japanese officials are not ready to part with.  In the documentary, Japanese officials are a roadblock at the filmmaker’s every turn.  The local fisherman are hostile when it comes to anyone filming or taking photos of the Cove.  The Cove is vehemently defended by every Japanese official and any area near the Cove is off-limits.

On top of everything, dolphin meat has a super high count of mercury and is poisonous to humans.  An elements that the Japanese are kept in the dark about.  Though only a small population of Japanese actually consume dolphin meat in its form, it is used to mix in with other meat products that sells to mainstream Japanese consumers.

Industrial Light and Magic

The twist of the documentary is that without the knowledge or consent of the locals, they setup a team of experts from expert divers, Industrial Light & Magic filmmakers and impassioned surfers as well.  The team is determined to film exactly what goes on during the killings.

HD cameras are hidden in the cliff above the cove (installed in rocks) and underwater recording equipments were hidden in the bottom of shallow water.  The images that was capture was astounding.  I personally had to look away for almost the entire 5 minutes in the end.  IT IS A HARD WATCH.  But in the end you find out exactly how barbaric this practice is.  All that’s left is a sea of blood in side the cove.  Disturbing.

While this is disturbing to many including myself, it is important that we don’t turn a blind eye away from things that are not pleasant to watch.  But for humanity’s sake we must face our own evils, even if it’s tradition.

Check out the trailer:

The Cove is out on DVD but still playing in very selected theaters but go watch the DVD check out the website The Cove to find out more info and see what we can do to help the Dolphins.

The Cove has won many film festival awards including the Sundance audience award 2009.