The Cove Reveals Injustice With a Meaningful and Suspenseful Story

When the documentary  The Cove was released, people were talking about the film and urging each other to go see it. For good reason. One of the primary messages of the film is that injustices can be perpetuated when they are hidden. When they are exposed, we all have the opportunity to make our voices heard and make a difference. This is an example of the effect that a group of dedicated people can have on our larger ecosystem.


In a secluded cove in Japan’s fishing town of Taiji, more than 23,000 dolphins are slaughtered each year and sold for their meat. The way it is packaged and labeled, many Japanese people don’t realize they are eating dolphin meat, which they may not choose to consume otherwise. It’s provided to school lunch programs, in spite of its dangerously high mercury content. Most of the dolphins sold for captivity (at the price of $150,000 each) are caught in Taiji. These are the injustices committed activists are working to bring to light. The Sea Shepherd protested there, and Surfers for Cetaceans famously paddled out into the bloody water. (Read Lori Denman’s story about Surfers for Cetaceans.)  Both groups were arrested and not allowed to return, and their efforts and voices are chronicled in The Cove.

The Cove tells the story of a diverse group of photographers, filmmakers, special operative experts, freedivers, technology experts, even a DNA researcher (who examined supermarket meat to find dolphin sold on the shelves under different guise) and activist Ric O’Barry. O’Barry was one of the earliest dolphin trainers, working for the Miami Seaquarium in the 1960s and training the dolphins in the popular ’60s television show Flipper. When one of the dolphins died in his arms, O’Barry switched his focus from capturing dolphins to freeing them, founding the Dolphin Project on the first Earth Day in 1970. He has tirelessly worked over decades to free dolphins and is the Director of Save Japan Dolphins coalition and is the marine mammal specialist for Earth Island Institute: savejapandolphins.org.

The film is a mix of horrifying facts, heartwarming storie,  and a suspenseful action-adventure that follows the team as they try to figure out how to get footage of the hidden slaughter in the patrolled and forbidden areas of the cove where security guards, the police force and fisherman are trying to hide the evidence. Along the way, we see the maneuvering of the Japanese contingent of the International Whaling Commission and follow O’Barry’s commentary as he describes his transformation from trainer to activist. In the end, it’s a triumph of the power of commitment as a group of people tirelessly work to get their story told.

It has rightfully won a number of awards in film festivals around the world, including the Audience Award at Sundance, 2009. And it’s well worth seeing.

Find out more, including exclusive freediving videos, a download of Jane Hightower’s book Diagnosis Mercury, the backstory behind The Cove, where to see it and ways that you can take action at: thecovemovie.com.

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