Director: Louie Psihoyos

Poster

Cast: Richard O’Barry/Louie Psihoyos/Simon Hutchins/Kirk Krack/David Rastovich/Scott Baker

A dolphin’s smile is nature’s greatest deception, it creates the illusion they’re always happy.

Nothing is as misleading as the gorgeous scenery along the coast of Japan near Taiji. As an unsuspecting tourist I would not have the vaguest inkling of the brutal slaughter that takes place yearly right under people’s noses.
Produced by the Oceanic Preservation Society, “The Cove” tells the story of O’Barry’s mission to obtain hard evidence of what goes on in Taiji and exposed it to the public. “The Cove” is much more a spy thriller than just a record of that adventure. When the director Louie Psihoyos slipped into the little coastal town of Taiji, Japan, it was under cover of documenting the degradation of ocean reefs. Those men — perhaps cops, perhaps worse — trailed Mr. Psihoyos and his crew unrelentingly, determined to prevent anyone from filming the enormously lucrative dolphin capture and slaughter that support the town’s economy and employ its fishermen.

From flipper’s trainer to dolphin defender, the persistent O’Barry, who has been arrested many times for trying to free captive dolphins, is practically Taiji’s Public Enemy No. 1. The film is larded with footage of

Harmonious Scene

fishermen barring him from entering the cove, where all photography and recording have been banned. When he gate-crashes a meeting of the International Whaling Commission, the video screen strapped to his chest is like a physical manifestation of decades of guilt. A real hero is always daring to admit and fix his mistakes. “If a dolphin is in trouble anywhere in the world, my phone rings,” he says. You may not give a fig for dolphins, but Mr. O’Barry is giving enough for us all.
The director and all the team members are heroes for their intelligence and courage. Heroes, however, are instantly identifiable, like the shy Japanese councilmen who risk their jobs to protect schoolchildren from mercury-tainted dolphin meat.

“The cove” exposes the guilty in Taiji, bringing us terror and anxiety at first and hope and confidence in the end. Think over what can you do to confer your care for dolphins. Of course, all the creatures in nature is equal, please treat them as your pet!