‘The Cove’, a thrilling documentary

Oscar winning documentary about the ritual slaughter of dolphins, whales and porpoises in Taiji, Japan

The Cove, image courtesy of Participant Media

The Cove has been on my bucket list ever since it won the Oscar for Best Documentary way back in 2010 and what a time to write about it when Japan begins it ritualistic slaughter of the Dolphins beginning September and going till April next year. In the process some 23,000 (or maybe even more) dolphins, whales and porpoises are killed annually, mercilessly in cold blood. This documentary is not for the faint hearted, so be warned. The entire cove turns red with the blood of these slaughtered animals. Remember the opening scenes of the film “Saving Private Ryan” where on Omaha Beach as part of the Normandy Invasion, the water turns red with the blood of the soldiers killed. Now imagine something even worse where the Cove remains red for months because the killing goes on a daily basis. At Faroe islands where whales are slaughtered the beach remains blood red for miles.

First of all I congratulate intrepid makers to make such a daring film. The makers have defied stalking and arrests in the process of making this film, the entire world needs to see and know of the plight of these helpless creatures of the sea who are rounded up and slaughtered in one of the dastardly crimes there is. There is special effects of a different kind in the film. Cameras are hidden in rocks and placed at vantage points to get a complete view of what is going on in the cove and the way these gadgets are placed stealthily defying the guards and authorities is a must-see. The sheer guts of the film makers in the final scenes of the documentary is something out of the ordinary, one never seen before. The scenes of the killing at the Cove being played on a monitor strapped to the chest of activist Rick O’ Barry walking into an annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission was brilliant. One wonders how they pulled this one off.

Didn’t know that unlike humans where breathing goes on automatically, dolphins and whales have to consciously inhale to breathe and that a dolphin can even commit suicide by forcefully shutting down its breathing. Dolphins are enabled with a Sonar that puts our modern Sonars to shame. According to Rick O’ Barry dolphins literally see through a human with their echo location apparatus and even detect tumors and pregnancies.

Ten years and on, the ritual slaughter continues. After the release of this film and more protests the methodology of the killing has been changed. Now the killers claim they can kill a dolphin faster using an alternate method which is cruel too. At Taiji the killers now cover the area with tarpaulin to prevent the filming of the killings. However that is not the case with another place where a similar ritualistic slaughter takes place, The Faroe islands. Here the hapless victims are pilot whales. Done in the open and in full public view the killing is video taped and photos taken and published too.

The documentary of the cove is available in full on YouTube (linked below).

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