The Cove

TedFlicks Rating:

$10 ticket on a scale of $0 to $12.

RIEFENSTAHL MEETS MACGYVER

The headline may appear flippant, even tasteless, but “The Cove,” freshman feature from helmer Louie Psihoyos, IS a propaganda film, and Leni Riefenstahl, Hitler’s propagandist, in her 70s turned to underwater photography.  “The Cove” is littered with enough high-tech gadgets to make MacGyver’s head spin.  And it is long on tastelessness.

The 91 minute documentary is a plea to end the hitherto secret slaughter of dolphins, primarily in Japan at a secluded cove in the seafaring town ofTaiji.  The locals, whose livelihood depends on the fishing industry, take issue with the filmmakers.  What starts as an attempt to document the annual September killing of dolphins turns into cat-and-mouse between the film crew on one side with the Taiji cops, its fisherman’s union, and some thugs on the other.

That’s not a bad thing.  It adds dramatic tension.  One tends to root for the film crew as they bamboozle the heavy-handed locals with everything from cameras hidden in prop rocks (courtesy of the set designer of “Bruce Almighty”), hydroponic recording equipment set in place by the world’s two top free divers, night vision cameras and US Army spec heat detecting photographic equipment.  All the spy stuff is necessary because the locals will do almost anything to keep the dolphin kill from being photographed.

The result, given that it is shot with static HD cameras, is both amazing and disturbing, thanks in large measure to Geoffrey Richman’s editing.  This is where the tastelessness comes in.  There is nothing pleasant about watching panicked dolphins vainly trying to flee their killers as the water in which they live reddens with their blood.

Whales have been protected from commercial hunting since 1986. Dolphins are not.  Pic documents meetings of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) at which Japanese representatives repeatedly try to repeal the whaling ban and fight attempts to extend protection to dolphins.

This begs the question, “Why protect dolphins?”  For that, pic depends largely on Richard O’Barry, the captor and trainer of dolphins from the 1960s TV series, “Flipper.”  O’Barry reformed, and he pursues his new mission with messianic zeal, preaching on behalf of dolphins to anyone and everyone, including the IWC, where he shows up with a TV screen strapped to his chest on which the dolphin slaughter unspools. Guards eject him.

O’Barry believes that the dolphin is at least the equivalent of man in terms of self-awareness, intelligence, communication skills, and emotion – everything that makes us human. “The Cove” makes a powerful case for his point of view.  O’Barry would not only prohibit hunting them, but he would also free all dolphins in captivity believing that it shortens their lives.  Pic also makes the case that dolphin meat, loaded with mercury, is poisonous to humans.  The only unresolved question is, “Why hunt them?”  Despite the $600 one dolphin will fetch as food, the industry loses money and could not exist without government subsidy.  Pic goes a little off track in an attempt to explain Japanese thinking.

“The Cove” benefits from spectacular ocean photography both above and under the water by cinematographer Brooke Aitken.  Sound recording is excellent.  Settings in and around Taiji radiate beauty — in sharp contrast to the killing zone.  Distributed by Roadside Attractions for the Ocean Preservation Society (of which director Psihoyos is a co-founder) “The Cove” carries a PG-13 rating thanks to the brutality of the kill, which may frighten children.

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