The Cove (film)
| The Cove | |
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Canadian free-diving world champion Mandy-Rae Cruickshank swimming with dolphins in a photograph used for the film's movie poster
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| Directed by | Louie Psihoyos |
| Produced by |
Fisher Stevens Paula DuPre Pesmen |
| Written by | Mark Monroe |
| Starring |
Ric O'Barry Hayden Panettiere Scott Baker Isabel Lucas Hardy Jones |
| Music by | J. Ralph |
| Cinematography | Brook Aitken |
| Edited by | Geoffrey Richman |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by |
Lionsgate Roadside Attractions |
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Release date
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Running time
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87 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English Japanese |
| Box office | $1,140,043 |
The Cove is a 2009 documentary film directed by Louie Psihoyos which analyzes and questions dolphin hunting practices in Japan. It was awarded the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2010. The film is a call to action to halt mass dolphin kills, change Japanese fishing practices, and to inform and educate the public about the risks, and increasing hazard, of mercury poisoning from dolphin meat. The film is told from an ocean conservationist's point of view. The film highlights the fact that the number of dolphins killed in the Taiji dolphin drive hunting is several times greater than the number of whales killed in the Antarctic, and asserts that 23,000 dolphins and porpoises are killed in Japan every year by the country's whaling industry. The migrating dolphins are herded into a cove where they are netted and killed by means of spears and knives over the side of small fishing boats. The film argues that dolphin hunting as practiced in Japan is unnecessary and cruel.
Since the film's release, The Cove has drawn controversy over neutrality, secret filming, and its portrayal of the Japanese people.
The film was directed by former National Geographic photographer Louie Psihoyos. Portions were filmed secretly in 2007 using underwater microphones and high-definition cameras disguised as rocks.
The documentary won the U.S. Audience Award at the 25th annual Sundance Film Festival in January 2009. It was selected out of the 879 submissions in the category.
The film follows former dolphin trainer and activist Ric O'Barry's quest to document the dolphin hunting operations in Taiji, Wakayama, Japan. In the 1960s, O'Barry helped capture and train the five wild dolphins who shared the role of "Flipper" in the hit television series of the same name. The show, very popular, fueled widespread public adoration of dolphins, influencing the development of marine parks that included dolphins in their attractions. After one of the dolphins, in O'Barry's opinion, committed a form of suicide in his arms by closing her blowhole voluntarily in order to suffocate, O'Barry came to see the dolphin's captivity and the dolphin capture industry as a curse, not a blessing. Days later, he was arrested off the island of Bimini, attempting to cut a hole in the sea pen in order to set free a captured dolphin. Since then, according to the film, O'Barry has dedicated himself full-time as an advocate on behalf of dolphins around the world.
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