The Cove

The documentary, The Cove, is about the slaughter of innocents. After seeing this, you'll recognize the slaughter of your own innocence. I know! I know! That sounds too simplistically deep to have any meaning, but trust me; I mean it. Once you see this movie, I don't think you'll be able to go back to being complacent about anything regarding our environment or our people. The Cove is a story about a secret cove (but not secret enough, as it supplies dolphins to theme parks and fish markets around the globe) in Taiji, Japan. The fishermen trap the dolphins inside this enclosed body of water and then capture them or kill them. Only two options. They are never released back into the wild.

Ric (Richard) O'Barry was the original trainer of the 1960s t.v. show, Flipper. For something like nine years, he trained and lived with four female dolphins that collectively made up Flipper. He says in the documentary that he never really understood the suffering that the dolphins experienced--the depression, the stress--until he witnessed one of the Flipper dolphins, Cathy, commit suicide in his arms. A dolphin consciously takes a breath, and Cathy, due to her depression, chose not to breathe any more. He didn't become an activist against dolphin slaughter and dolphin captivity until years later. He's been at it now for over 35 years (trying to repair the damage he created by showing the world how cute and obedient and special dolphins are in captivity), and it is his life's mission to protect and save The Dolphin, a mammal as intelligent and self-aware as any human being.

Ric and his team--assembled of free divers, adrenaline junkies, movie prop guys, and other activists--travel to Taiji to expose the slaughter of the dolphins. Interlaced in the documentation of the team's efforts is a glimpse into the politics and procedures of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). The original purpose of the IWC, as I understand it, was to put a moratorium on the institutionalized whale slaughter. That ban has since lifted, and Japan is leading the way in its revitalization of whale killing and dolphin killing. In fact, Japan pays off poorer countries, like Barbados, to form allegiances with Japan regarding its whale policies. This (the IWC) just feels like a show of how governments really function--they do nothing to support or protect the people or the environment. That job is really left to The People. We humans are not necessarily the smartest beings on the planet, but we are certainly the ones most capable of saving the planet--mostly because we are the ones most responsible for systematically destroying it.

The Cove is not preach-y and it's not even that tragic in the way you might expect. Yes, we see the actual slaughter of the dolphins, and that is difficult to watch. But, the movie is almost a thriller in that half the battle of the filmmakers is even getting the footage. They are blocked at every avenue they attempt. The fishermen and the government prohibit photography in and around the cove, and they will attempt to arrest any activist or on-looker for nonsense charges. The movie deals with the slaughter of dolphins, of course, but it brings up a lot more issues that are as troubling--if not more so. For example, the ocean waters are so polluted that the fish and dolphins are considered toxic dumps that are full of mercury. The dolphin meat is being used as whale-substitutes to ignorant consumers and even as routine lunch menus in schools. We are poisoning our children because mercury poisoning causes mental retardation as well as physical paralysis and other problems.

I've seen dolphins and whales in the wild. I've swum in the presence of dolphins. One of my favorite surf spots in San Onofre (Southern California) was frequented daily by a pod of dolphins. They fearlessly swam right by the waiting surfers and even took turns in the waves. So, to see the torture and slaughter of dolphins was really painful. I can't even look at Sea World--basically a torture chamber for marine mammals--the same way again. The Cove just really opened my eyes about how we are behaving as people and as governments. To this day--even with this documentary out winning awards and being seen by many--the slaughter continues. The poisoning of people and the earth continues. I know I sound simple or sentimental, but I feel like if we don't start to care about health and safety of ourselves and our environment, there really will come a time when we will not be able to reverse any of the damage we've caused. I just want to be more like Ric O'Barry. I want to start fighting for the health of our planet, and not mind the risk I might face. For more information about the cove and what you can do, please visit: http://www.takepart.com/thecove/