The Cove

Thousands of dolphins are being slaughtered in Taijii, Japan, for profit every year, and the local government seemed to permit the business. 'The Cove' is about the story of how a few people went against the government to uncover this shocking fact to the world.



This is an award winning documentary. Please find more information about the movie on IMDb here.

Movie Review

One of the absurd excuses the Japanese government used for killing dolphins was that the dolphins were eating up fishes, which were also the target of Japanese fishing business. They named the slaughter 'pest control', and they were proud that the time they killed each dolphin was getting shorter and shorter each year, making the dolphins much less painful. We can very well see how ignorant and cruel can dirty money turn human kind into.

'The Cove' also talked about loopholes in the relevant regulations. Dolphins are a kind of whale, and there seems only one internationally recognised organization about protecting them, the International Whaling Commission (IWC). However, it does not have much established regulations regarding the fishing of dolphins yet and Japan played a significant role in the commission. A lot of the developing countries supported Japan simply because Japan pay them good money.

In the documentary, Ric O'Barry, the activist who is determined to stop the dolphin killing, was actually the famous dolphin trainer who popularized dolphins among the public in the 1960s, indirectly making dolphin shows a profitable business. Anyway, I'm amazed at his courage to stand up against the government and change the world.

Related Links

Below is a PSA on saving the dolphins, featuring a number of movie stars. For more information, please visit the official site for the movie here, or the follow-ups on the movie here.