Film Critique
Mass Communications
Chelsea Bjerke
November 29, 2012
“The Cove”
“The Cove”, a documentary from
2009, concentrated on dolphins and how keeping them in captivity was not in
their best interest. Dolphins would become depressed and even get ulcers in
their stomachs from being stressed while in captivity. Richard O’Barry was
interviewed throughout the documentary and how he became an activist after the
well-known “Flipper”, or more personally known Cathy, became seriously
depressed which resulted in dolphin suicide. The most issues with dolphin
slaughtering and catching centers in Japan, but has further moved throughout
the world.
Richard O’Barry, or Ric, was the
initial “dolphin trainer” which started the TV series “Flipper” in the early 1960’s
and in doing so he created an everlasting friendship with his intelligent
costar, Cathy, a dolphin brought in from and kept in captivity to be trained
for human entertainment. After being
kept in captivity for so long, she became depressed and took her last breath in
Ric’s arms outside his home. From that moment on, Ric became an activist and
was arrested the next day for freeing a dolphin kept in captivity. He wasted 10
years of his life putting together something he’s now spent 35 years trying to
destroy.
The filmmaker attitude and
perspective seemed to fall in with O’Barry’s and took great interest in knowing
what he does, how he does it, and why he does it. I felt the maker sympathized
with Ric and supported his overall goals. With that, the filmmaker did not
necessarily try to persuade his viewers, but more wanted everyone to know the
truth about captive dolphins, and the truth behind the scenes.
The style/genre of this film was a
documentary which concentrated on important, real issues. This documentary kept
a steady pace with points of interest that kept viewers intrigued. The
filmmaker chose to show scenes from the ever popular TV series with Flipper,
which allowed viewers to connect with something familiar to them. The narration
flipped between Ric and his interviewer. This film used the documentary style
in which a narrator spoke in the background of different sceneries telling the
story of the point they were trying to get across. The Cove was definitely
meant to seem realistic and it touched on today’s problems that dolphins are
facing.
I felt in the introduction of the
film, where the beginning credits was played, was a way to show viewers that
this film had an important story to tell. I was given the initial vibe that it
would be a serious and sad story. The film kept its images to real life places,
people, and things to keep viewers in real, current time. The image that
continued to strike me the most and kept me hooked and in agreement with the filmmaker
and Richard was watching the dolphins being captured. The way they so
carelessly tied them up to transfer them and how they would so carelessly take
the “duds” around back to be slaughtered because they wouldn’t create enough
money for the fisherman was selfish, disrespectful, and disgusting. It just
goes to show how this world functions and how money surpasses life. The
priorities of people today are only going to ruin society even more for the
future.
The scene that caught my attention
the most and really turned my opinion to follow the filmmaker was when Ric
O’Barry was telling his story about him and Cathy, and how he would drag his TV
out to the dock and watch the TV series, Flipper, with her. Cathy would know
the difference between her and a different dolphin on the screen. It proves how
smart dolphins really are and that taking advantage and treating them like any
other game is not right. Ric goes on to tell the story how he could tell that
Cathy was getting severely depressed, and with that she swam up to his arms and
took her last breath in what he explained as dolphin suicide. To do this she
took a controlled breath above water, which resulted in her last. This act
broke O’Barry’s heart and is what started him into being an activist. The very
next day after Cathy passed; he was arrested for freeing a captivated dolphin.
I never knew dolphins actually got ulcers from the stress they undergo from
being in captivity. We parade them around for our own enjoyment in places like
Sea World, which clearly is not in their best interest. Even though we claim
that slavery is over, our culture is still very much active in slavery. The
only difference is we now use animals as our slaves instead of humans.
A character I felt strongly about
and agreed with was Ric O’Barry. The way he responded with Cathy was as if his
own daughter committed suicide because of maltreatment. He acted as any father
would to bring what little hope was left to sanctify his daughter’s life. The
way he described Cathy’s suicide and how it changed him in a way to destroyed
something he worked 10 years to build, even if it meant spending the rest of
his life destroying it. He acted with passion and dignity and to this day is
still fighting, even though he knows if he’s caught in the wrong place, his
life could be on the line. Our humanity is solely based on HUMAN-ity. Humanity
has nothing to do with surroundings, but only with what is best for humans.
People do not care about the hurt and torture brought upon anything, and only
about the revenue created from products.
The most important criticism this
film provides is showing the true hurt brought to these dolphins. More and more
dolphins would rather take their own lives than be caught in captivity. It
makes you wonder why people can be so heartless in the act that they have no
emotion towards destroying such a smart breed of mammal.
