By Alice Bruckenstein
www.compassionateanimal.tv
Posted: Au. 4th, 2009 4:20 PM
Shadowy figures filmed using thermal photography and a voiceover saying, “You try to do the story legally” is the beginning of The Cove, and its director, Louie Psihoyos, has us hooked. This account of obtaining forbidden footage of the slaughter of dolphins in Taiji, Japan is as exciting as any thriller.
Along the way we learn about the almost surreal marketing of a town that “loves dolphins” with tourist-laden dolphin-shaped boats cruising along its shore and razor-wired areas hidden from view, a massive cover-up of mercury-tainted meat poisoning Japanese children, and the evils of marine parks where visitors can swim with “smiling dolphins.”
At the center of the movie is Ric O’Barry, dolphin trainer for the famed television series Flipper, who has been trying to stop the killing of thousands of dolphins for the past 30 years. O’Barry’s internal anguish over the dolphin recreation industry, which he feels he helped to create, is as compelling as the intrigue of the external circumstances surrounding these events.
Add fake rocks designed by George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic with hidden cameras inside, champion free divers, and of course Psihoyos himself, whose heartfelt presence in the movie gives it an immediate, you-are-there feel, and your eyes will be glued to the screen every step of the way. But in the end it’s the sight of the dolphins, whose intelligence is reflective of an as-yet-unknowable alternative reality that leaves us with the feeling that allowing their harm is a profound violation of ourselves as well.
The Cove not only exposes the cruel dolphin trade and slaughter, but it also highlights issues of wild capture, the international captive animal trade, animals in entertainment, animals as food, disease from toxic waste, pollution, the destruction of our oceans, and corrupt governments driven by capitalism.
