The Cove

Morethan any non-fiction book or documentary, the television show “Flipper” broughtthe benign intelligence of dolphins to public attention; ironically, the risingaffection for the ocean mammals resulted in an industry that captures andconfines dolphins in marine parks for the entertainment of crowds. The dolphinsmay look happy enough while performing their watery ballet, but according tomany naturalists, their death rate in captivity is high. Like people, theysuffer from stress and stress kills.

“Flipper’s”dolphin trainer, Ric O’Barry, came to regard the creatures not just as smartanimals, the faithful hounds of the sea, but as self-aware and deserving a highdegree of human respect. O’Barry is the protagonist of The Cove, a compelling documentary about activists filming thecarnage in the waters of the Japanese fishing town of Taiji, one of the world’sbiggest suppliers of captive dolphins and dolphin meat.

Documentingthe local fishermen as they drive the creatures toward a remote cove nearTaiji, hidden on three sides by sheer cliffs, was no simple matter. The area issealed by razor wire and patrolled by guards. Although the village is festoonedwith friendly images of dolphins and whales, the local authorities and thefishermen’s union are determined to keep the embarrassing slaughter underwraps. The Cove includes scenes ofthugs bullying activists trying to get near the shore and cops keeping watch onthe film crew from unmarked cars.

DirectorLouie Psihoyos is often onscreen and for once, in a documentary, it’s not asymptom of narcissism. With O’Barry’s help, Psihoyos was more commando leaderthan documentary filmmaker, heading a paramilitary style operation completewith a drone reconnaissance balloon. The filming of the movie is itself part ofthe story. Underwater and shoreline cameras disguised as rocks and birds nestsare put in place by a fence-cutting crew dressed in midnight black and preparedto endure violence and arrest.

Thescenes they captured are graphic; the sea turns red with the blood of theslaughtered dolphins. But the killing waters of Taiji are only the focal pointfor a larger set of issues. Industrial fishing is depleting the ocean and theseabed degraded by pollution. Japan is one of the great offenders, andaccording to The Cove, has purchasedthe sanction-impeding votes of many small UN members through investment yen.Whaling and dolphin hunting forms only a thin slice of Japan’s economic pie,yet a stubborn and misguided nationalism steels the Japanese government againstall calls to stop killing the ocean mammals.

Byshowing the killing of dolphins at Taiji, O’Barry and Psihoyos are trying toputif you willFlipper’s face on the issue. “If we can’t fix that,” O’Barrysays of the Taiji slaughter, “forget about the bigger issues. There’s no hope.”

The Cove opens Oct. 9 for a one-weekrun at the Oriental Theatre.