Recently watched The Cove, about dolphin “harvesting” in Japan. And despite really astonishing and unsavory footage of dolphin slaughter, I wasn’t incited to join the vanguard of the Save the Dolphin movement. The narrative was really demeaning to people and values that the creators believed to be lesser than their own and they unfairly categorized a few stubborn fishermen with the Yakuza, fascism, torture, and Minimata disease (mercury poisoning). The political message was too reminiscent of circa 1940s anti-Japanese propaganda films and was therefore completely untakeable.
Politics aside, the entertainment value of the movie is extremely high. There are amusing, over-dramatized action sequences filmed on thermal cameras along with lots of faux espionage-y type stuff and gadgetry. The central heroine is Ric O’Barry, former trainer of aquatic television star Flipper. The man has been stuck in some sort of guilt-induced psychosis since the day Flipper died, which was also the first day he was arrested trying to free a captive dolphin. He’s a very likeable, self-righteous asshole and the movie ends with him barging into a meeting of the International Whaling Commission with a flat screen monitor strapped to his chest.
Recommended.
