Henry Saw: The Cove

This is a compelling film and probably the best documentary I've seen this year...


This has been a weak year for documentaries. The two I saw, and the ones that got the most press, were Anvil: The Story of Anvil and Capitalism: A Love Story. Both were dissapointing; Anvil wasn't interesting and Capitalism was a mess. I've read decent things about some other documentaries from this year such as Facing Ali, The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, Food Inc., and Valentino: The Last Emperor, but none of these generated any real buzz or sounded like something I had to see. I know some people who saw The September Issue, and thought it was great, but I could not have been less interested in its subject.

For some reason The September Issue, and the critically praised Anvil, are not being considered for the Oscar (Read the Short List here). The one documentary that is both eligible, and received a great deal of positive reviews, is the film I watched last night On Demand: The Cove.

The Cove tells the story of Richard O'Barry, the original trainer of all the dolphins on the 1960s TV Show Flipper, who following the "suicide" (we'll get to this) of the main dolphin on the show, dedicated his life to trying to free all dolphins who are in captivity. The film really focuses on his efforts to expose the actions of the fishermen in the whaling community of Taijii, Japan.

O'Barry, with the help of the filmmakers, (The Cove was directed by Louis Psihoyos) assembles a team (which at one point is compared to Ocean's 11) that will try to find a way to get cameras in a hidden cove where Japanese fisherman capture and slaughter bottle nosed dolphins. Interspersed with footage of their operation is footage of O'Barry and other Ceacean experts talking about the reasons against capturing dolphins and the dangers of eating dolphin meat.



The best parts of the film are the missions to place cameras in the cove. As my dad said, this part of the film could really have been a dramatized film. The real-life characters are interesting, their methods are not without risk, and their goal is a worthy one. Where the film is weaker is when it goes into Michael Moore territory and strongly argues slightly ridiculous statements (like dolphins can commit suicide or that the Japanese government wants to poison school children) and sandbag interviews.

The Cove, especially in the covert operations scenes, shows what a good documentary can achieve and why its such a viable medium to tell a story or reveal issues. The lesser parts of the film, the interviews and standard documentary information sessions, are what prevent the film from being a great film. As is, it's a very strong movie and the best documentary I've seen this year.

Grade: B+

Best Scene: The horrifying footage at the end when we get to see what happens in The Cove...


P.S.: South Park had a great spin on this story in an episode called Whale Whores earlier this year. Here are some of the highlights: