Topic: The Cove (2009)

[Critter]

The Cove



2009

Academy Award Winner: Best Documentary Feature 2010

Director: Louie Psihoyos

Writer: Mark Monroe

Plot: Using state-of-the-art equipment, a group of activists, led by renowned dolphin trainer Ric O’Barry, infiltrate a cove near Taiji, Japan to expose both a shocking instance of animal abuse and a serious threat to human health.

5/5 Stars

My Thoughts:

The Cove being nominated for an Academy Award was the first time I had heard of this documentary, despite somewhat following the horrific events at Taiji myself for several years now. I have seen several of the other documentaries nominated as they have been shown on independent TV channels here but I had not yet managed to see The Cove. I also had not found it by other means. Watching it win the Oscar today however brought this film back to the front of my mind so I downloaded and watched it… and I am glad I did. You can berate me all you want for downloading this film but after watching it, I really believe that the people who made it wouldn’t care. These people risked their life to get this message out to as many people in the world as they can, so I don’t believe the means in which they view it would be the first thing on their mind. That being said, now that I have seen this masterpiece documentary I am going to go out of my way to buy a copy on DVD, if not just for the purpose of lending to my friends, as I also now want the world to see this film.

Issues of animal rights have always been prominent to me, I myself have been Vegetarian now for over 7 years and while I am not fully vegan, I try to avoid dairy products as much as I can, although I find it too difficult to avoid them altogether. I have also for the past several years been in contact with several animal rights groups throughout Victoria and have attended protests and participated in awareness activities for cases of animal neglect or abuse. Now before you get the wrong idea, I am not telling you all this because I believe The Cove is a film just for Vegetarian animal rights activists like myself because it isn’t, this is really a film I think everyone should see. I only pointed this out so you may understand how profoundly this film affected me and how deeply it hits home for my beliefs.

As I mentioned earlier I have been keeping an eye on this case of gross animal cruelty for many years but up until now it has been an issue that is mostly in the dark. In the dark that is until now. This small group of passionate people, this group of humans who properly respect animals have gone out of their way to bring this issue into the light in all its gory detail, and with The Cove they succeed. Now I am a person who doesn’t even believe in the mass killing of chickens for food for humans, let alone cows, dolphins, whales or any animal. Even with my strong beliefs on this matter I can still see how this mass dolphin kill is so wrong, even beyond the problems we have with chicken or cattle. See many people’s argument towards the issues of dolphin slaughter in Japan is, “We eat cows and chickens, they eat dolphins, what’s the big deal?” This argument actually has no grounding at all with this issue as these two situations are so wildly different from the other. The reason this argument has no effect in this situation is that the general population of most countries are aware of the mass farming of animals such as cows, pigs, chicken etc for their food. One point that The Cove raised however is that the general population of Japan are unaware of these events, and this is where this horrific story really gets interesting.

Now in some cases you could say Japan are lying, say that the general public are aware of this dolphin slaughter but say they know nothing about it to cover their tracks, in this case however this is not true. The Japanese Government are hiding the truth about dolphins being slaughtered for food because dolphin meat contains high levels of Mercury and is actually toxic for most humans. Mercury poisoning can be very harmful to human health and can even lead to death, and dolphin meat is one of the strongest source of Mercury.

This Mercury poisoning is one of the biggest issues for many people, but then there is also the fact that 23,000 of the world’s most intelligent, gentle and beautiful creatures are being brutally slaughtered every year. They lure them in by frightening with sound, they trap them in a small secluded area and then well, the next day that area looks like this…

(click to show/hide)

The Cove was a milestone for animal rights awareness. These people stopped at nothing to get the footage that they did and were well prepared to enter an extremely dangerous zone. A team was put together including ex military and divers and then the equipment rolled in (all of which had to be snuck into a small hotel in Taiji). They had thermal camera, underwater sound recorders, night vision cameras, and the most brilliant of them all, high definition cameras disguised in false rocks which were planted in the dead of night around the area of slaughter. These rocks were actually created for the team by one of the head molders in the Industrial Light and Magic film visual effects company.

Now I really could go on forever about this documentary but in the end you just have to see it for yourself. I was in tears countless times, as well as often on the edge of my seat as these brave people held somewhat stakeouts in the middle of the night while being followed by Japanese police. I highly recommend that anyone who can get a copy of this film watch it, and then try and show it to their friends.

Trailer

[Kathy]

I can not watch this. I couldn't even do more than skim your overview. Of course I am aware of the cruelties of life but I have decided I don't need to see it. My movie choice over the years have gradually eliminated those that make me hurt inside - this film would do just that.

[Najemikon]

Great review, Critter. I've wanted to see it since Mark Kermode reviewed it. His reasoning was that apart from the fact it is by all accounts a well researched and very important subject, it runs well as a film. He described some of the scenes suiting a spy thriller.

Not sure if this link will work, but there's a link about halfway down on http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nbxj1

[Critter]

I can not watch this. I couldn't even do more than skim your overview. Of course I am aware of the cruelties of life but I have decided I don't need to see it. My movie choice over the years have gradually eliminated those that make me hurt inside - this film would do just that.

That's fine Kathy, I know many people, including my own Mum who cannot bear to see scenes of animal sufferring. I myself am on the other side of the spectrum. Now I don't enjoy watching videos and seeing images of animal curelty more than the next person but I believe I have to. After all, if no one knows what is happening then nothing can be done about it. When I was in High School I sat through hours of animal abuse footage to creature a video project about animal rights that ended up being shown to heaps of classes.

Great review, Critter. I've wanted to see it since Mark Kermode reviewed it. His reasoning was that apart from the fact it is by all accounts a well researched and very important subject, it runs well as a film. He described some of the scenes suiting a spy thriller.

Not sure if this link will work, but there's a link about halfway down on http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nbxj1

Jon, some of the scenes were dfinitely reminiscent of spy thrillers, as I said in my review I was on the edge of my seat many times, some people have said it is like "Flipper vs The Bourne Supremecy". Thanks for that Mark Kermode review, I will look into it. And I again, I highly recommend this one.

[Critter]

I just found this on youtube, here's the acceptance speech that the director didn't get to make on the night as he was rushed off stage.

[Najemikon]

I couldn't believe it when I saw this was produced by Fisher Stevens. Fisher Stevens! From Short Circuit 2 and with that awful Indian accent!

[dfmorgan]

Great review, Critter. I've wanted to see it since Mark Kermode reviewed it. His reasoning was that apart from the fact it is by all accounts a well researched and very important subject, it runs well as a film. He described some of the scenes suiting a spy thriller.

Not sure if you've managed to see this yet Jon but More 4 are showing it on Tuesday, the 20th, at 22:00.

Dave

[Najemikon]

Oh, thanks, Dave! I'll try and catch it.

[Critter]

Jon, I cannot stress enough how much you need to see this one!

[Dragonfire]

I don't do well with movies that have animals suffering.  Or even the ...appearance of an animal suffering or being mistreated.  It makes me mad and gets me so upset.
I got talked into going to see Eight Below.  That movie upset me so much I couldn't manage to write a review of it and I had nightmares that night about those poor dogs.  I was crying just about nonstop through that movie because I was so upset over the dogs just being left...and then everything else that happened.  I just can't deal with that sort of stuff.  There is nothing entertaining about it.

[Critter]

It's not supposed to be entertaining Marie, it's supposed to spread the knowledge that these things are actually happening. No one enjoys watching animal abuse, but if no one ever watches things like this then people would not know the truth, and then nothing would be done and animals would just continue to suffer. Awarness is one of the most important stages to fighting animal abuse. Too many people hide from the horrible truth becuase it is too upsetting to watch, but then the abuse just keeps on happening. To fight back effectivley we have to know what we are fighting.

Or that's just my opinions on it anyway.

[Dragonfire]

I was referring more to other movies that aren't documentaries that have some sort of animal mistreatment in them.  Those movies are supposed to be entertaining....like Eight Below. 

I know there is animal abuse.  Unfortunately there a lot of jerks in the world who treat animals horribly.  I can't handle watching that stuff.  That doesn't mean I don't see that documentaries like this one need to be made....but I just can't handle watching stuff like this.

[Critter]

I actually quite liked Eight Below. Even though what happened to the dogs was wrong, you could at least tell that the human characters in the story were concerned for them and genuinley felt passionate about the dogs saftey, even if there wasn't a lot they could do.

Sorry I got confused and though you were reffering to the documentary types since that's the thread. It's fine that you don't watch it, a lot of people done, but as long as some people watch these types of documentaries then at least the message is getting out. When I watched The Cove I can honestly say that I think I cried more in that movie, than any other film I have ever seen. I had trouble sleeping that night. But do I regret watching it? Not for a second.

[Dragonfire]

I actually quite liked Eight Below. Even though what happened to the dogs was wrong, you could at least tell that the human characters in the story were concerned for them and genuinley felt passionate about the dogs saftey, even if there wasn't a lot they could do.

I got that the main character - I can't remember his name - cared about the dogs.  But I didn't get that from everyone else.  Especially whoever decided that equipment was more important than the dogs...who had just saved someone's life.  After that, there was no way I was going to like the movie.  Yes there were a few moments that were nice when the dogs were playing together..but for them to just be left behind and then have to go through what they did...it was awful.  That is the one movie I regret watching and I will never ever watch it again. 

Now I've gotten myself upset again just by talking about it.  And it was years ago that I saw it.  I need to find something happy to watch now.