The Cove Movie Review    by Chamberlane Altatis

in Entertainment / Movies    (submitted 2012-01-04)

This is my personal The Cove Movie review. This is a great documentary film I watched about dolphins in Taiji, Japan. Well, it's not about an entertainment of watching those dolphins but it's a call to action about people to go against that act specially of dolphin slaughter in Taiji.

To be honest, I would also love to go and watch those dolphins dancing, swimming, flying, and diving in those pools. I always watch in TV that dolphins are the most intelligent animals and I really wanted to see them in person because I only saw them in TV so far. I can say however that my perspective about dolphins changed after I watch The Cove documentary.

The Cove Documentary Overview

The film won the best documentary in the Oscar awards in 2009. That's actually the reason why we became curious about it so we watched it.

It's basically an exposure of the dolphin slaughter happening in Taiji, Japan that people in the place is hiding. Ric O'Barry, a popular 1960's animal trailer wanted to do something to let this dolphin killings end.

If you are going to see it, why would Ric, a former great animal trainer go on the other way around and wanted to stop taking dolphins for entertainment? Well, this is because of the death of Cathy, the dolphin he trained for the popular TV show Flipper. He realized that Cathy became exhausted and finally gave up breathing. That made him an activist and made free many aquatic animals. He was even imprisoned for what he was doing.

Ric is against those dolphin shows and most specially, he wanted to do something to stop the dolphin slaughter happening in Taiji, Japan. The problem is that, the dolphin slaughter there is fully guarded by Japanese men. Photographing and video shooting is strictly prohibited so Ric cannot really prove that there is a dolphin slaughter in the area. Many, like policemen and volunteer surfers, tried to save the lives of those species but all of them failed.

With the help of awesome film makers and professional divers however, Ric with the team were able to do the plan in capturing the dolphin killing into film. The mission is really critical because they can get caught and imprisoned in Japan. They made it though by having the divers plant recording device for dolphins communicating inside the waters. The film makers also placed HD cameras from many angles covered with specialized rock like thing they made.

Finally, the dolphin slaughter was caught on tape. Ric then went to the counsel wearing a flat screen TV with him and showed the dolphin slaughter they captured in Taiji. That was the very first time people realized that what Ric is saying is really happening.

Point of Views

Well, we all have our own definition of good or bad. I know that many of us who watched this documentary sided with Ric and his team about stopping the killing of those innocent dolphins. A Japanese guy we know who also watched this documentary has another feeling for the film though. He said that it is the culture in the area and people must respect that. We live in the Northern part of Luzon here in the Philippines and he said that we also have a culture of eating dogs. He respects this culture so people must also respect the culture in Taiji.

Well, I personally wouldn't agree with this Japanese guy's side but I also respect his opinion. To balance it for me, it's just that it's a business and job for Japanese people in the area and it is a bad act however for others.

Documentary Filming Review

I can say that it is really a great documentary. I also love making documentary films and how this film was done is really great for me. I love the way they risked everything just to expose what is happening in the place. The film sequence is also great using that time shifting way. The call to action impact is also powerful. Truly a great documentary film!

About the Author

Chamberlane Altatis
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