Thursday, April 29, 2010

The Cove




Directed by: Louie Psihoyos
Produced by Fisher Stevens, Paula DuPre Pesmen
Written by: Mark Monroe
Distributed by: Lionsgate
Rating: PG13
Running Length: 91 minutes
Release Date: July 31, 2009
Street Date: December 8, 2009

If you care about God’s creation, support animal rights, have an interest in nature, or are just concerned about our world in general then this is a film which will enrage and possibly spur you into action. The Cove is a documentary focusing on the enslavement and slaying of dolphins by the Japanese fishing industry. The Cove, an American documentary, is also extremely well crafted providing a story with intrigue, history, and results.

As the story unfolds, bottle nose dolphins in Taiji, Japan are entrapped during their annual migration and sold or slaughtered by locals involved in the fishing industry. History is captured through interviews with former ‘Flipper’ dolphin trainer Rick O’Barry, including his life changing story of saving Dolphins from exploitation and death. Fast forward to Louie Psihoyos, National Geographic photographer and co-founder of the Ocean Preservation Society (OPS), meeting O’Barry and learning of the dolphins plight n Taiji. The dolphin’s devastation in Taiji is told amid the backdrop of Japan’s corrupt fishing industry. Psihoyos recruits a highly specialized team who must go ‘under cover’ to document the plight of the Taiji dolphins despite the deliberate acts of the local dolphin ‘fishing’ industry and local authority thwarting their efforts.

Migrating dolphins are herded into a local park’s ocean-facing cove where prospective buyers from the worldwide multi-billion dollar dolphin entertainment industry pay top dollar for dolphins. Remaining dolphins are later mercilessly driven into an adjoining cove hidden from the public eye where they are brutally slain and sold to the Japanese public as various types of ‘safe’ whale meat not containing high doses of mercury. Dolphins that are slain literally turn the killing-field cove blood red by boatmen using spears and knives, stabbing at dolphins of all ages who are packed tightly toward shore in large nets. The number of dolphins killed nears 23,000 annually. The brutal slaying of this intelligent, peaceful mammal is representative of Nazi Germany’s ethnic cleansing, keeping the strong for work detail and committing genocide of the rest.

While the city of Taiji provides a much publicized public image supporting the dolphin, it is only a rue to hide the savage slaying of this peaceful and intelligent mammal. Japan’s insatiable thirst for the ocean’s foray has been well documented. What has not been documented is the brutality of its hunt and selfishness of its gluttony. The film shows not only those embarrassingly caught exercising the crime and representing Japan’s interest in the ocean’s fisheries but those few who are trying to change Japan’s related history. A history which includes a fishing industry providing fish heavily tainted in mercury resulting in the retardation and physical abnormalities of many newborns in Japan.

Amid the espionage-like intrigue of the documentary’s crew in recording the story lies the savage plight of the dolphin in Japan’s fishing industry making this one of the more intense and worthwhile documentaries in recent times. This is an eye-opening experience and worthy of close attention but is not for the faint of heart or children due to the overt cruelty shown to this peaceful animal. The Cove won the Oscar for best documentary at the 2010 Academy Awards and the U.S. Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival. This is a must see file whether you love creation and the animals who populate it or are just a concerned citizen of this world.

http://www.thecovemovie.com/

No comments:

Post a Comment