The Cove Review

This powerful, slickly packaged doc goes to great pains to expose the grisly annual slaughter of the orcas and links it directly to the demand for dolphins to perform in your nearest aquarium and marine park.

Directed by Louie Psihoyos, The Cove takes us to Tajii, a Japanese fishing town close to the dolphins’ migration route. Every year the fishing fleet bombards the dolphins with sonar and drives them into the estuary, where nets block off all escape. There, in the shallows, the most attractive specimens are selected and picked off for the lucrative dolphin-show market.

None of this is secret and it doesn’t seem particularly sinister, though it’s obviously not good news if you’re a dolphin. It’s what happens next that’s really upsetting – and which the community of Tajii conspires to keep out of sight and under wraps. See, the dolphins picked for training are the lucky ones. The others, they are shepherded around the corner to a sheltered cove away from prying eyes…

The filmmakers hook up with activist Ric O’Barry to infiltrate the secrets of the cove and film what goes on there in the dead of night. This turns into a fascinating, hi-tech surveillance operation involving scuba divers and hidden cameras. Psihoyos cheekily mimics the style of Ocean’s Eleven, but it’s actually a serious matter, the fishermen have the authorities on their side, and the activists must trespass to get anywhere near the action – jail time, expulsion, even physical intimidation are real possibilities.

You can guess what they find but be aware that the footage is tough to watch. Meanwhile the Japanese stonewall, and maintain that this nothing more than a matter of cultural sensitivities. After all, we don’t treat our cows any better. The fallacy of that argument is revealed very neatly when the moviemakers vox pop the citizens of Tokyo, who are shocked to learn that dolphin meat is sold and consumed in their country, often deliberately mislabeled as tuna. And they are right to be dismayed, because the levels of mercury in dolphins make this an especially unhealthy meal.

The Cove is certainly terrible PR for Japan. But equally interesting is the character of Ric O’Barry. Before he turned into an environmental warrior for the orcas, he was the dolphin trainer on the very first series of the popular 1960s TV show Flipper. It was that show, more than anything, he says, that won dolphins such a huge fan-base all around the world. And how did humans show their affection for these animals? By putting them on display in marine theme parks, of course.