Documentary of a Japanese town that secretly kills dolphins **** 4 stars

By Jennifer Huber

Swimming with a whale in The Cove

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 7/30/2009 – “There couldn’t be any more danger than there is now,” says The Cove star Ric O’Barry. “I have to go in wearing a disguise. I’ve even been wearing a dress, lipstick and a wig to keep them off the track. Once you’re arrested in Japan, you’re out of the game forever, so it’s vital that they don’t find any reason to arrest me. That’s also why you see the fisherman filming us. They’re hoping to catch someone doing something that the police can arrest us for.”

O’Barry is the leader behind the covert mission undertaken in The Cove. O’Barry started as a dolphin trainer for the hit television show Flipper. After one of the dolphins used in the show died in his arms, O’Barry dedicated the rest of his life to freeing all captured dolphins and returning them to the wild.

“Audiences laugh, they cry and then they leave the theatre saying ‘what can I do?’,” says O’Barry. “I’m excited because the more popular the movie is, the more unpopular the dolphin hunt will become in Japan. I really believe we are on the verge of stopping these hunts, and quite possibly, the whaling of all small cetaceans.”

The Cove is a documentary about the capture and killing of thousands of dolphins every year in Taiji, Japan. Insightful and heartbreaking, the documentary gives viewers a very real and painful understanding of what’s happening behind the scenes in this supposedly dolphin and whale-friendly town.

“The town was like out of a Steven King novel,” says The Cove director Louie Psyihoyos. “Outwardly, the whole town was about the reverence and respect and love of dolphins and whales, but what was happening in the secret cove belied another story, one I was determined to get at.” The killings in the cove, kept secret by barbed wire fences and angry fishermen guards, masked to many people in Japan what was really happening to the dolphins.

To get around the fences and guards, Psyihoyos assemble a team that he calls his Ocean’s Eleven team. That team includes two free surfers, one who can hold her breath for over six minutes while diving 300 feet on her own power, and a former Air Force avionics technician.

“Dolphins have larger brains than us, there are more folds for neurons, they have an extra sense, sonar,” says Psyihoyos. “They are the only wild animals known to come to the rescue of humans. They have been legendary for extraordinary feats of compassion since man had the ability to write. They have always come to our rescue and I feel that it’s about time somebody tried to rescue them.”

“The Cove was definitely not your normal film production,” says Psyihoyos. “Most of our work happened in the middle of the night, under cover. Our biggest challenge of all was simply trying to avoid being killed or arrested and put in jail for months if we were caught.”

One of the strengths of the documentary is it’s entertaining ensemble. Perhaps most entertaining is Ric O’Barry. The film captures humor amongst the crew and beauty in gorgeous shots of dolphins in nature. Not only are viewers learning about dolphin capture, but also interesting facts about dolphins themselves. It puts a spotlight on the dolphin entertainment industry and will make you think twice before purchasing another ticket for a show.

The film culminates in the success of the crew to hide cameras in the cove and film the actual slaughter of a large group of dolphins. It is a very difficult scene to watch. These things are happening and this documentary’s main goal is to get the truth out there. The message is, only in truth can anything be changed.

The Cove
Distributor: Roadside Attractions
Running time: 91 minutes
Release date: July 31, 2009 (USA, limited)
MPAA rating: PG-13 for disturbing content