“If you didn’t know what was going on over here, you’d think this was a town that loved dolphins and whales,” said Ric O’Barry, a former dolphin trainer about Taiji, Japan in the beginning scenes of The Cove.
The documentary works to uncover the secrets behind the mass killing of dolphins that occurs in Taiji every year.
According to O’Barry’s website, SaveJapanDolphins.org, about 2,500 dolphins are wrangled into the National Park known as “the cove” during the hunting season between September and March.
Some dolphins are sold to be trained in captivity, while most are brutally killed.
The filmmakers, made up of Ocean Preservation Society members, captured all of their footage in secret using hidden microphones and cameras while constantly being followed.
The filmmakers not only faced aggressive Japanese fisherman, but if they had been caught, would have been arrested and made to face serious punishments.
Though the content and some of the images are disturbing, the film is not only thrilling and visually stunning, but eye-opening.
The Cove has been shown all over the world and major cities in the United States, including, in the summer of 2009, the Tampa Theatre.
In spring or summer of 2010, it will begin its distribution in Japanese theaters, said Gina Papabeis, an Ocean Preservation Society member and marketer for The Cove.
The film received mixed reactions at the Tokyo Film Festival, but the younger generation is more open to change.
“There isn’t much individual activism,” said Papabeis.
The Japanese quote in the film, “the nail that sticks out must be hammered down,” helped describe this phenomenon.
Papabeis said the amount of international support and pressure placed on Taiji, was helping the cause, but “we need to create change from within Japan.” Papabeis added, “It has to be a Japanese-led effort.”
Since September of 2009, the dolphin gathering has continued, but because of The Cove’s success, there were journalists present and the fisherman postponed their routine for a week.
Papabeis explained it’s impossible to have someone watch the area constantly, but the fisherman have stopped herding the dolphins into the physical cove and have been attempting to continue the act at sea, but this method is difficult.
“They know they’re being watched and it’s getting harder for them to do what they do,” said Papabeis.
Papabeis said there is a Japanese grassroots level of support spreading the word about what’s occurring in Taiji. “The next step is getting people to see it.”
The Cove will be shown in Reeves Theater on Fri. April 2, at 8 p.m. and sponsored by Student Productions and Tri Beta.
Gina Moccio can be reached at gmoccio@ut.edu.