MOVIE: The Cove

Did you know that most dolphin meat today contains around 2000 ppm of mercury? Did you know people even ate dolphin meat legally? Neither do most of the people of Japan, where the slaughter is happening, despite the fact that many of the fisherman doing the hunting claim it is part of the culture. The recent Academy Award winner for Best Documentary Feature, The Cove, exposes these "secrets" and more.

As filmmaker Louis Psihoyos and his, to use his words, "'Ocean's 11' team," attempt to capture on film the dolphin harvest taking place in the coastal town of Taiji, Japan, an incredibly interesting and tragic film unfolds. The most intriguing aspect of the documentary is the involvement and leadership of Ric O'Barry, one of the world's first dolphin trainers and the original keeper and trainer of the famous "Flipper" television show. O'Barry has since changed his tune on domesticating dolphins and believes they need to be free. Dolphins in captivity die earlier that wild dolphins mostly due the stress of hearing their own sonar bounced around their aquarium tanks; often these dolphins are heavily medicated for their constant ulcers earned through this stress.

One of the greatest travesties exposed in the movie was both the politics at play in one of the largest Cetacean organizations in the world, the International Whaling Commission (IWC), and its practical ineffectiveness. The Japanese delegation, for example has basically bought entry to many other small island nations, several in the eastern Caribbean with no whaling interest (or information) such as St. Kitt's and Dominica. Japan has been attempting to overturn the IWC's limitations on whaling since the early 1980's; more "bought" members means more votes in Japan's favor. One interviewee stated that "any cetacean known to man is in danger just by going anywhere near Japan."

"The nail that sticks up must be pounded down"
~Japanese Proverb

The filmmakers and their rougue semi-undercover operation to place hidden hi-def cameras disguised as rocks on cliffs, in bushes, and underwater, in order to capture the brutal and abundant herding and killing of the dolphins in a visually secluded cove proved difficult and suspenseful. Ricking both Japanese incarceration and injury, it was clear the filmmakers felt passionate about telling this story. Hopefully, now that the film has received so much praise and accolades, more people will be educated to this unfortunate plight that extends far beyond animal cruelty.

A website is shown at the end of the film: TakePart.com/TheCove I encourage you to visit this site and check out the film.

Sergio del Limónar