The Cove

14th March 2010

When the credits rolled at the end of The Cove, I immediately thought to myself ‘this needs to be shown on peak time television for all to see. In light of its recent Oscar win (Best Documentary) and countless other accolades, hopefully it will indeed now be seen by everybody.

Recently released on DVD, The Cove follows a small group of filmmakers in Taiji, a small town off the coast of Japan, including activist Richard O’Barry. O’Barry was responsible for the capture of five dolphins in the 1960s, all used to film the world famous TV series, Flipper. Since witnessing one of the dolphins ‘committing suicide’ because of its lifestyle, O’Barry has campaigned and rallied for the end to the captivity of whales and dolphins for the entertainment of the general public.

The group are there to help uncover a dark secret that the fishermen of Taiji strive so aggressively to protect: the slaughter of over 23,000 dolphins and porpoises every year. The documentary is named so because of a small cove (also known as ‘The Killing Lagoon’) in the town, hidden by surrounding rocks and plant life that is, as activist Richard O’Barry says, is ‘a dolphin’s worst nightmare’. The mission that these people are shown to carry out is an extremely dangerous and ultimately illegal one (the production team are currently facing a number of charges in Japan as a result of the documentary). They carefully constructed a way of hiding three cameras in the cove during the night (away from fisherman’s eyes) to gather evidence of what happens there everyday during a six month period and eventually help to have the laws in Japan overturned to stop the killings from happening.

I didn’t quite know what to expect from The Cove, but a number of people had recommended I watch it, saying it had really effected and moved them.

Judging by some of the first shots in the film, it would appear that Taiji is a town that really loves dolphins, with artwork, sculptures and concrete models of them everywhere. It just seems so ironic that in a town filled with dolphinariums and whale museums, thousands of them are murdered every year just a few minutes down the road. During his time there, Director Louie Psihoyos summed up Taiji perfectly, saying it was like a scene from a Stephen King movie because it was such an eerie and sinister place to be, especially knowing what goes on there.

The whole feature seems almost dreamlike and more akin to a suspense filled thriller movie than a real life documentary. Many of the scenes in The Cove certainly wouldn’t look out of place in a horror film. It isn’t even just the horrific slaughter scenes in the film that make it so hard to watch though, it’s the information that the audience are provided with.

There are countless dolphinariums in Japan and in some of their gift shops, among cuddly toys and baseball caps, dolphin meat is actually for sale. Japan also tried to introduce dolphin meat into its school meals, being fully aware that the meat holds up to four thousand times more mercury than is recommended to be consumed by any human being. If this had been approved (as a result of this film and two very brave Japanese scientists, it was not) it could have started a mercury poisoning epidemic in children throughout the entire country.

The way The Cove is shot and edited adds to the sense that it isn’t really real life and what you’re seeing isn’t real. Some of the things that have been captured on camera (including dolphins being harpooned to death) are so shocking and it makes you wonder why this hasn’t been stopped. It may be a major industry in Japan but is it really worth bringing about the extinction of dolphins? I think not. There are many contrasting shots in the film, including one underwater shot of a clear blue sea one second and (literally) blood red the next. The score (composed by J. Ralph, also responsible for music from Man on Wire) beautifully compliments the film and evokes real emotion throughout, especially in the closing scenes with Ric O’Barry entering the IWC (International Whaling Commission) with a TV screen strapped to his body with a video playing the evidence the group collected of the dolphin slaughterings.

The Cove is the triumphant result of five years’ dangerous work by Louie Psihoyos, Ric O’Barry and the rest of the film’s production team. They risked their lives making this truly shocking documentary, so it’s only right that the whole world should see it. Including you.

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