Ransom Riggs
2009′s Most Disturbing Film Is A Documentary
by Ransom Riggs - January 7, 2010 - 7:51 AM

You might have already heard about The Cove. Described by one critic as “Flipper meets the Bourne Identity,” it’s a compelling marriage of edge-of-your-seat infiltration/espionage and more traditional documentary storytelling, all in the service of exposing the bloody secret of one small town in Japan, where every year in a secluded cove tens of thousands of dolphins are rounded up in nets and harpooned to death, their meat repackaged as other kinds of seafood and sold in supermarkets across Japan. I saw the film a few weeks ago and it quite honestly gave me nightmares.

The film’s effort to expose the killings is led by dolphin expert Ric O’Barry, who most famously trained the dolphins who collectively player “Flipper” on the 1960s TV show of the same name. He makes an impassioned argument against the capture, killing or confinement of dolphins, admitting that it was only after he himself helped to spawn the Sea World industry and hundreds of copycat parks like it across the world did he realize just how intelligent — and not just intelligent, but self-aware — dolphins are.

Then, last week, I saw a news article which seemed to back up O’Barry’s assertions almost word-for-word:

Dolphins have been declared the world’s second most intelligent creatures after humans, with scientists suggesting they are so bright that they should be treated as “non-human persons”.

The studies show how dolphins have distinct personalities, a strong sense of self and can think about the future. Other research has shown dolphins can solve difficult problems, while those living in the wild co-operate in ways that imply complex social structures and a high level of emotional sophistication.

The researchers argue that their work shows it is morally unacceptable to keep such intelligent animals in amusement parks or to kill them for food or by accident when fishing. Some 300,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises die in this way each year.

The Cove is a strong contender for this year’s documentary Oscar. It’s pretty heavy-duty (I don’t get nightmares easily), but I highly recommend it. Here’s the trailer (which, while compelling, is considerably less likely to give you nightmares):

« Previous Post   -   Next Post »
Click here to get a Risk-Free issue of mental_floss magazine
Comments (12)

  1. Thanks for the warning, Ransom. I will avoid this movie like the plague. I read that article you mentioned about dolphins’…capabilities (brain to body size ratio, intelligence, self-awareness, etc.), so I am not interested in being horrified. I love animals.

    posted by Bubba on 1-7-2010 at 12:53 pm

  2. No, you should totally see it. I meant “gave me nightmares” in the best possible sense!

    posted by Ransom Riggs on 1-7-2010 at 1:07 pm

  3. People NEED to be horrified by this movie. I saw the movie but had never heard of the round-up of dolphins in this Japenese town. It’s unbelieveable the slaughter that takes place there and the shock from Japanese citizens when they find out that this is going on in their own country. It’s a dirty little secret that must be stopped.

    posted by Steve S on 1-7-2010 at 1:59 pm

  4. I heard O’Barry’s interview on NPR a few months ago where he talked about the dolphin who played Flipper committing suicide. Creepy stuff.

    posted by Jeremy on 1-7-2010 at 3:25 pm

  5. If you’re interested in learning more about the filming of those horrifying scenes, you can listen to an interview of two of the divers who set up the underwater cameras: http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_848_The_Cove.mp3/view (scroll to the bottom of the page)

    posted by Erin on 1-7-2010 at 4:15 pm

  6. “the shock from Japanese citizens when they find out that this is going on in their own country”
    Yeah, the Japanese are a notoriously unaware people who have no idea where their 3000 yen a kilo dolphin meat comes from. Unlike we Americans who are intimately familiar with the source and ontological worth of the creatures they consume.
    Are pigs any less intelligent? Cows? Assuming of course that intelligence has any bearing on whether or not something should be eaten. If so I guess that chicken that beats all comers in tic-tac-toe is safe then?
    Maybe scientists can develop a breed of retarded dolphin so that the Japanese can eat them without offending the tender sensibilities of clueless westerners who benefit directly or indirectly from animal suffering on a daily basis yet somehow manage to find fault with the peculiar customs of others.
    As for the nightmares, Jesus! Man up already. As Nietzsche said all higher culture is based on cruelty, you just became tangentially more aware of some of it. It’s not like your government sent you to evacuate the American embassy in Monrovia and you had witness – in person- the sight and smell of thousands of men, women and children hacked to death with machetes moldering in the tropical sun.

    posted by el duderino on 1-8-2010 at 12:34 am

  7. Good points El Dude.

    posted by roi_ratt on 1-8-2010 at 10:19 am

  8. While I will not be as graphic, I must agree, at least in part, with el duderino. I have seen The Cove and it seems the scientists only care because the dolphins are ‘intelligent’ and the Flipper trainer feels guilty.

    posted by J on 1-8-2010 at 11:22 am

  9. Right on, el duderino.

    posted by Niki on 1-8-2010 at 1:08 pm

  10. Dolphins eat tens of thousands of pounds of fish in their lifetime, who’s looking out for the fish? Every dolphin spared from the Japanese menu is a death sentence for untold fish.

    posted by Fish on 2-10-2010 at 7:08 pm

  11. I rented it right after you posted this story, and finally got around to watching it. (Thanks, Netflix)

    It’s outrageous how smug and idiotic the Japanese government representatives are. Also, see my link for a story that just broke in LA…

    posted by Leah on 3-10-2010 at 7:05 pm

  12. t seems the Japanese continue to torture and kill 50+ after the end of WW II. Sad that they still don’t understand karma.

    posted by Mr. Lee on 8-9-2011 at 8:00 am

Comment

commenting policy