THE COVE
US, 2009, 91 minutes, Colour.
Ric O’ Barry.
Directed by Louie Psihoyos.
It seems as though this intriguing documentary will leave no one in the audience unmoved. Those with a passion for conservation, animal care against cruelty and exploitation will feel galvanised to go on the warpath. Those who dismiss this kind of commitment-to-a-cause film-making will be irritated if not angered and accuse the film of a partisan look at the issues and of skewing the evidence and the truth to make their points. In fact, these accusations have been made as well as the enthusiastic responses. The Cove has received many awards and generally favourable reviews.
It is about dolphins.
There is the issue. Are dolphins considered so cute and intelligent that they should be rounded up for performance in sea theme parks, the Flipper syndrome from the very popular TV show of the 1960s? Or should they be left free in the ocean? And are they creatures that can be eaten, especially by cultures who rely on food from the sea? Many westerners, despite a predilection for sushi, tend to be against this. But, the Japanese and others question the use of cattle and pork as fitting for food. How important are these cultural differences?
The film, which builds aspects of a feature film into its structure, especially a final undercover raid on the secret cove where dolphins are killed, makes a case against the exploitation of dolphins both for amusement and for food. Particular accusations are made against the Japanese government and its representative at international whaling conferences and the coverage (banned by local authorities) of the village of Taiji where each September the dolphins pass and are coralled and sold for large sums to parks or killed for their meat is highly accusatory. As part of the campaign by the mayor of Taiji, dolphin meat was included in compulsory school lunches in Japan – however, the film points out that the increase in mercury from dumped waste has meant unhealthy mercury levels in the dolphin meat.
Several authorities are interviewed about the culling of the dolphins but the main speaker is Ric O' Barry who spent years training the dolphins on Flipper but who came to appreciate their sensitivity and worth and began to campaign to save the dolphins. He has been arrested many times for protest and trespass and has no hesitation in expressing strong views.
The Cove shows the power of a well-made film to challenge presuppositions which is always a valuable thing whether the conclusions from dialogue support the stance of the film or not. The producers are The Oceanic Preservations Society.
1.The acclaim for the film? The many awards? Critiques? The effect for the ordinary audience?
2.Documentaries and polemic, challenges? The subjectivity of the approach to the issues?
3.The producers, the Oceanic Preservation Society? Their philosophy about conservation, animals, dolphins?
4.Conservation issues, dramatised well? Animals, whales and dolphins? The preference given to them? Criticisms of westerners eating cattle and other animals? The plea by Japanese for eating fish, dolphins…? Different ways? Which better?
5.Audience response to dolphins, seeing them as cute, intelligent, their place in folklore and myths? Theme parks and sea worlds? Dolphins used as food, exploiting them? Dolphins as a popular conservation cause?
6.The cause, the comparisons with other species, with human life?
7.The campaigners, the director, the Oceanic Preservation Society, the founders, founders of other organisations? The importance of Ric O’Barry?, the interviews, his reputation, being banned, his speeches?
8.O’ Barry’s background, the 60s and his work for the television program, Flipper? The influence of Flipper around the world, television, the 60s, family, a cute animal, the training? O’ Barry and his work in training the dolphins? The reasons for his change of heart, campaigns, the many arrests?
9.The critique of anthropomorphising dolphins?
10.The structure of the film, information, the journey to the village of Taiji, the campaign, the revelations after the raid, the expose?
11.The editing of the film, the partisan approach? Sufficient to give credibility to the points being made about the film and the issues? The attack by critics who see various conspiracies?
12.The director, participating in the journey? Japan, the coast, the beauty, the cove?
13.The village of Taiji, its reputation, the role of the mayor, his influence, the workers, the fishermen? The refusal to let cameras in? The character on guard, ‘Private Space’? Hostility, report of deaths? The capture of the dolphins, the methods, using sound, corralling the dolphins, harvesting them, sales to theme parks, huge prices?
14.The dolphins as food, culling the stocks, the nature of the slaughter, the blood in the water? The issue of dolphin food, imposing the food for school lunches? The health issues, the mercury released to the water, the mercury in the dolphins? The councillors and their criticism of the local council, the photos, the banning of the school lunches?
15.The international meetings, the whaling societies, partisan for Japan? The representative and his speeches? The discussions, the issues of evidence about the treatment of dolphins? The comments about Japan buying countries in the Caribbean, Africa, in the mid-Pacific to support them?
16.The demonstrations, the protesters, the American couple, their emotional reaction? O’ Barry, as a personality, his explanations and their credibility, his passion, arrests? The authorities trying to keep the demonstrators out, the campaigners lying to the authorities? The interrogations?
17.The raid, the cover, infiltration, the plan, the rocks and going to the production designers, getting the cameras in the rocks, the technical ingenuity, filming the slaughter, filming the blood?
18.The conclusions to be drawn from the film? About animal issues, about conservation, about honesty – and yet the continued controversies about local customs, food customs around the world?
