After having heard all the hype and seen the captivating trailer on Channel 4, I finally got around to watching the award winning documentary The Cove with the other volunteers on the recommendation of Liv, who had brought a copy with her to camp. Before watching I had a vague idea of what the film was about – ie dolphins – but not really in any great detail.
The film follows the work of activist Ric O'Barry, a renowned dolphin trainer who trained Flipper – and as a result probably helped contribute to the popularity of dolphin tourism today – on his quest to expose the cruelties of the Japanese dolphin trade. The team uses state-of-the-art technologies to uncover the abuse, capturing a graphic scene of bloodshed which is utterly shocking.
The film documents one man's campaign to bring light to the events which take place in this Japanese cove and he certainly succeeded – the film won the 2010 Academy Award for best documentary. However, the fact that he was aided in this campaign by millions of dollars worth of film equipment reduced the impact of his achievements in my eyes. In the film, O'Barry says “If you aren't an activist you're an inactivist”. Well it's very easy to be an activist if you have a very large budget behind you and an unlimited amount of time to spend pursuing a singular aim. Overall the film left a rather sour taste in my mouth. Unlike the excellent documentary “The End of the Line”, the viewer can take no action in response to this film (apart from perhaps texting the word “dolphin”, as is suggested in the end credits). The End of the Line tries to educate the viewer about the problems with over-fishing and what actions every single one of us can take to remedy against this. The Cove places the blame on a distant “other” making it in a way, the perfect film for an “inactivist”.
Another point which I found quite odd was the way this issue of the health risks associated with the eating dolphin meat was handled. It was mentioned as almost an after-thought and very much a secondary issue in the film that many Japanese citizens may be unknowingly consuming meat contaminated with mercury. I don't know if and how the film was received in Japan but I would have thought that the issue of potential mercury poisoning would not be something that was taken at all lightly.
In short, whilst the film uncovers some important issues I personally didn't find it very inspiring. The needless slaughter of any animal is obviously tragic and I am glad that O'Barry is able to devote his time to this cause which is so important to him. However I find that when you watch a film which is all about activism, it is rather frustrating to be left with a feeling that there is nothing that you personally can do about it.
