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The Cove

Posted by Scott

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The Cove looks like it could be the most heart wrenching movie I’ll see for a long while. The documentary about the plight of Dolphins in Japan shines a light into a secretive cove where an estimated 23,000 are slaughtered annually. There are screenings being held in select US cities throughout August. If you’re in the San Francisco bay area it’s playing at Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley on 8/7 where producer Fisher Stevens will be holding a Q&A after the screening. Hopefully this story gets some traction and will effect some sort of change.

Watch HD Trailer: YouTube | Apple

12 Comments Leave A Comment

3

Josh Williams says:

August 4, 2009 at 6:16 pm

Yeah, I hope it brings some change too, but international pressure hasn’t done much in the past to curb whaling. I also doubt this film will gain traction or even be shown in Japan because it will be considered disgraceful. This looks like an amazing film though and I really do hope it has an affect. Can’t wait to see it. Thanks.

4

Melissa says:

August 4, 2009 at 8:44 pm

My guess it that it’ll tug our heart strings, just as we’d like it to, and when the film is over we’ll go out for coffee and play with each others heart strings a little more by discussing different parts of the film. We’ll all vomit our pretentious opinions on the table, a mishmash of empty words for everyone that saw the amazing, life changing film.
And it was such a great saturday night, wasn’t it?
And monday will come, and we can all go back to the jobs we hate, the compromises we make.. etc
Next weekend, “Born In Brothels”??

5

Scott says:

August 4, 2009 at 9:11 pm

Melissa-
I enjoy my cynicism as much as the next guy but while we can’t fix everything in this world, exposing situations like this can help. Yes, it’s a sad state of affairs that somebody has to wrap our causes up in slick, entertaining packages to make us wake up and recognize the issues, but it can make a difference. Sure, I doubt many people who see this film will quit their jobs and devote their lives to saving dolphins, but to suggest that their forming opinions on the subject and considering the meaning of new information they’ve just been presented with is somehow disingenuous or meaningless is rather pretentious of you yourself. People can modify small things in their lives and en masse, can cause larger changes. Just being aware of an issue can change the way you act or react in certain situations and when enough people are aware, it adds up to something real.

If you’re simply arguing that we should focus on our own species’ problems (i.e. “Born Into Brothels”) then I whole-heatedly agree with you. But the people who made this film obviously have a deep connection with the subjects and also have special knowledge and access to the root of the issue. And this issue is rare in that it is a very contained. It’s a problem going on in a geographically small place presided over by a small group of people. This isn’t “let’s end poverty”, this is “let’s try to convince the Japanese government to change policy on a very specific issue with an obvious solution”. I am sure this is why they made the film, not because they felt it was the most important issue facing the world today, but because they felt they were uniquely equipped to take it on and that they had a real chance of making a difference. And if it happens to make the situation better and save some dolphins then I’d say the price of the movie ticket and coffee (including pretentious vomit cleaning surcharge) are well worth it.

6

Bas says:

August 5, 2009 at 5:08 am

Seems like these people are doing really great work, but I can also understand Melissa’s complaint. But then again, there are so many problems in the world. Almost every animal is – in some way – supressed by humans. So, the least thing we can do is creating awareness. If only for people not buying the most cheap and nature unfriendly fishsticks when they are in a grocery store, for instance.

I’ve got another problem with this trailer/movie. What bothers me is the hyping of the film itself. It’s like the movie is saying: “we’re opening your eyes to this huge problem for the first time and it’s so important yet exciting. If you keep watching, you will see us fight it!” I think movies like this ought to be humble. This movie seems a bit extremist.

7

Flavio says:

August 5, 2009 at 5:33 am

I’m afraid that being italian, i will have to download this like i did for Sharkwater. Hell, they played the Al Gore movie more than a year later and never the DiCaprio’s one.

LET ME ADVERTISE HERE SHARKWATER, A DOCUMENTARY ON THE MASSACRE OF THE SHARKS BY THE MAFIA OF TAIWAN AND OTHER UNDERDEVELOPED COUNTRIES

http://www.sharkwater.com/

PLEASE WATCH IT AND SUPPORT THE SPREADING!

9

cmh says:

August 5, 2009 at 10:20 am

This is just so painful, I cannot watch things like this because it makes me feel like hurting people.

10

Flavio says:

August 6, 2009 at 3:54 am

Thanks Brian, you have me remember another tragic massacre that takes place in EU: THE DENMARK-FAROE DOLPHIN MASSACRE.
Danish young boys stepping up to the “mature” age are invited to massacre dolphins (and i think of a not so common race being black dolphins with a short nose)

you can read about it here
http://help-us-mancholas.blogspot.com/2008/10/denmark-incredible-rissos-dolphin.html
where’s a link to the petition

there is a slideshow on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKMvhewbZsM

pass it on!