Richard O’Barry is the man who trained Flipper; The Lassie of the sea and surprisingly, in the opening moments of The Cove the man who believes that by sparking the public interest in these fascinating creatures, he is directly responsible for the way the species is treated, bought and sold today.
The Cove takes us to a small beach near Taiji, in Wakayama, Japan, which O’Barry has discovered is actually a dolphin slaughtering ground where upon a handful of intense fishermen are reportedly capturing and killing more than 2,000 dolphins per year for their meat only after picking specimens to be sold into aquariums. Along with National Geographic photographer and the films Director Louis Psihoyos, O’Barry seems intent on giving the town’s dirty little secret to the world and it’s his always wet eyes and an affecting sincere way of speaking about his favorite animals which is the stand out hook in a documentary film that is as exciting as it is shocking.
The Cove is no way subtle but with its themes how could it be? Psihoyos presents the documentary as a kind of mission: impossible story and has layered this blunt little film with equally blunt techniques. Its riding orchestral music places it deeper into the realm of a John Grisham cover up thriller from the early nineties and although sometimes it’s far too much, sign posting the action, some how it works. As the team which O’Barry and Psihoyos assembles grows so does their curiosity and before we know it we are dodging the corrupt police force with them and watching the infiltration of the cove through night vision cameras. Most brilliant is the sequence where small DV cameras are mounted in fake rocks built by Industrial Light and Magic.
Though the doc stays sharply focused on the goings on at the cove it also attempts to touch on Japan’s policies with regards to whaling, the over fishing of our oceans and the struggle that the governing bodies have with trying keeping these in check. All this together with the bizarre notion that dolphin meat (which is unsafe to eat due to high levels of mercury) is being sneakily served up as fish at the local schools it makes for a full yet compact and very watchable piece of drama.
It’s interesting to note that as big and brash as the ideas on the peripheries of the film are, it’s still that tiny beach in Japan and the films closing scene in which O’Barry finally gets his footage seen that linger in your memory.
Though undoubtedly heavy handed, The Cove is an extremely well made documentary and no doubt a sure bet for an Oscar Nomination in 2010.
