The Cove (2009)

No Comments | Trackback | Permalink | August 20th, 2010

While there have been a flood of documentaries relating to food and its origins in the past few years, The Cove is undeniably one of the more recent films with a heavy politically charged agenda. It’s cause seems noble, and the interviewees and filmmakers seem passionate – yet, from the very start of the film, it is clear that there is more than just one motive for exposing the secrets of Taiji, Japan. There is no denying the action of capturing and killing whales and dolphins has been a constant political and emotional issue for decades now. Cultural and religious beliefs aside, the slaughter of these cute and intelligent sea mammals will no doubt stir up feelings of anger anger and emotion. Underneath the ‘covert filming’ and thriller like dramatic montages however, the hypocrisy and propaganda like style of the film really shines through, and in this sense this film thoroughly excels in fooling many viewers into producing an overly emotional response to Japan’s whale and dolphin industry.

The Cove centres on activist, Ric OBarry, and his undercover operation into the stoppage of dolphin hunts in Japan. A former world dolphin trainer, O’ Barry was moved to save the dolphins after having trained 5 dolphins for the tv show Flipper. Realizing that capturing and training these dolphins was wrong, Ric has maintained a determined stance on Japan’s self proclaimed age old tradition of killing and eating dolphins. Filmed in a guerrila style, undercover op- doco, The Cove is instantly dubious the minute O’ Barry begins describing the surveillance placed on him in Taiji, and the strong presence of cops following the team as they attempt to uncover the truth behind the dolphin hunts. To be fair, it is not the issue at hand which is most irritating, but the charisma and overbearingness of Ric O’ Barry. In fact, the term “eco-terrorist” may be used to describe such people involved in The Cove, because the hypocrisy and self righteousness overshadows all of the main points in the film.

Over emotional music and scenes of a baby dolphin bleeding in the water may invoke feelings of anger, or even tears, but are dolphins really held higher than other animals we eat on a daily basis? The most obvious question arising from this movie would be: “is killing whales not the same as killing cows or chickens?” In fact in most arguments involving animal cruelty, it seems most people are vastly ignorant about where their food comes from, or where it has been sourced from. In this case however, it seems hugely controversial that The Cove can produce such an invasive film with a deeply personal agenda, when there are similar issues relating to animal cruelty in our own backyards.

This does not withstand the fact that animal cruelty, no matter what species, is wrong. Sure, there may be the same scientific tests regarding the safety level of eating dolphin, but then again there are also the warnings of eating deep sea fish such as tuna, which contain higher levels of mercury. The simple fact is, The Cove is made in such a way which makes the viewer question how exactly dolphin killing is different to farmed animals, and how important tradition is versus the endangerment of a species.

It is a well known fact the sea is an important part of Japanese culture, and fishing is an age old tradition which extends through generations. While overfishing does not account for the fact that the world’s fish population is slowly diminishing, the procedures and measures with which dolphins are killed must also be taken into account when analyzing just how bad the dolphin killing really is in Japan. Ric O’ Barry has made clear his refusal to back down on the matter, but the reports of skewed editing and provocation of locals for the film only serve to highlight just how much of The Cove you can take with a grain of salt.

Vegetarians can argue that this take of the film only indicates a meat lovers’ self denial- rather an open minded approach should be taken when viewing films like these, and also the key fact that there is a strong emotional and seemingly guilt ridden attachment to the issue which O’Barry will probably never let go.

~ Jakki posted at 8:02 pm

See Also...

• Twilight Rant
• Black Book/Zwartboek (2006)
• Milk (2008)