The Cove

Wow this film was extraordinary. I have heard about it for a while, but finally got a chance to watch it online last weekend, and I’m so happy that I did. The film exists to create awareness about the massive slaughtering of dolphins that happens every year in a little town in Japan. What they do is they lure the dolphin packs in by stringing a net across a wide range by several boats. Then the “fishermen” bang on the bars with hammers to create a wall of sound that drives the dolphins in towards land. At the shore the dolphins are roped off and inspected. The dolphins that look like they will make good performers in shows (look like Flipper = go to Sea World, etc) are sold for $250,000 dollars and shipped out. The others are ushered to the other side of the peninsula where a cove is. Then they are slaughtered while still in the water and sold as meat to the Japanese people. They estimated that every year 23,000 dolphins are killed there.

The Cove Trailer

I loved this documentary so much. There was a lot of planning that went into obtaining the footage of the actual practice of how these fishermen killed the dolphins. The cove is so isolated by hillsides that no one can really get into it without being noticed and stopped before they enter. The teams went in under the cover of darkness and placed secret cameras along the hillside. Cameras that were made to look like rocks and other foliage on the hillside. And at the end of the film we see the horrific slaughtering of these creatures.

Granted, this film is extremely one sided. Americans love Flipper and dolphins. So to watch some Japanese kill tons of dolphins every year seems atrocious. However, if you think about it – to the Asian countries that consider cows holy, we must be seen as equally atrocious in our relentless killing of livestock in slaughterhouses. I’m not making a comparison between slaughter methods, but merely the ora around the animal in that society. Because the Japanese are truly using cruel methods to slaughter these dolphins. They have them all cornered in and start harpooning them from their small boats. The dolphins then slowly bleed out and choke to death on their own blood. Without a doubt slaughterhouse methods are more humane.

The film definitely will open the eyes of the world to see what they are doing in that cove in Japan. It definitely opened my eyes. The final shots of the cove’s waters completely colored red from all the blood is an extremely powerful and visceral image. One that should illicit change and action from legislative bodies. Because we all know Japan won’t change their actions unless the rest of the world forces them too.

Rating: 9.75/10
RT: 96%