Every year around this time I look forward to the announcement of the Oscar Nominations, I get a hold of the list and I set about checking off each movie I’ve managed to see before the nominations, and then set out on a quest to see as many more nominees as I can before the big show. This is perhaps the main reason why I love the Oscars.
Most of us are somewhat familiar with the marry-go-round yearly Hollywood formula for movie releases: between January and April we get the lesser quality movies, the ones that rely heavily on the star-draw of the cast to get us into the movies, yet have nothing more than a cheep thrill to offer. Then there is the Summer Block Buster Season, which, up until the release of “Gladiator”, was an extension of the Early Year Season, loaded with gimmicky flix devoid of any real substance. Since “Gladiator”, however, Hollywood execs realized that people do seek refuge from the heat to go see a good movie in the summer time, so now Summer Season has become what I like to call the Hit-or-Miss Season, wherein we are just as likely to come across a substantive movie as we are to get the cheesy basic instincts pandering flix. And then there is the Oscars Season, the Fall Season, the Major Releases Season or whatever you choose to call it. The Heavenly Season for those who, like me, are delirious about substantive flix and performances. Way too short a season if you ask me.
Fall Seasons frequently gets me into frenzied weekends running around trying to cram in, two days at a time, as many flix as I can, then I go about shooting texts and emails to the people I come across about my movie going experiences.
On this season, however, I didn’t get to do as many weekend frenzied runs as I’d like to, so by the time the Oscar Nominations were announced, I realized I had a lot of catching up to do. I just wish there were movie complexes dedicated to running Oscar nominated movies between the nominations and the big show, but that’s a story for another blog.
It was during this on going run-to-catch-up that I caught up with “Nine”, “Food Inc.”, “Precious”, “Julie & Julia”, “The Blind Side”, “Star Treck”, “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”,"Il Divo" -very ponderous, by the way- and “The Cove”.
“The Cove”: a riveting documentary depicting the on going yearly slaughter of thousands of dolphins in Taijii, Japan. A practice that, as depicted in “The Cove”, has been going on for years with the blessing and encouragement of the Japanese government, who –as shown in “The Cove”, goes to great lengths to keep this a secret from everyone, even the Japanese people not native to Taijii.
Why? You might ask. As the documentary shows, because Taijii, Japan is the world’s largest supplier of dolphins to the lucrative marine world tourism business; at an estimated $150.000 USD per dolphin Taijii fishermen have great incentives to hunt these animals down.
And this is just the beginning: if you are anything like me, an ordinary guy from somewhere, I can safely assume that had it not been for “The Oscars” you may not have heard about this documentary, and, perhaps, you might not even have a chance to see it.
That possibly being the case, here is a little bit of wisdom to keep at hand the next time you decide to visit a seaquarium near you: “The Cove” caught on film the capture and slaughter of dolphins by the Taijii, Japan fishermen. Every year between September and March the Taijii fishermen gang up, get on their fishing boats and set out to the dolphins gatherings off the shallow Japanese coastal waters. Equipped with large metal tubes mounted on their fishing boats, they place these large hallow metal tubes into the water and proceed to bang constantly on them with metal objects, this produces a disturbing wall of noise, which drive the sound hypersensitive dolphins into a desperate frenzy. Disoriented, the animals become easy pray; The Taijii fishermen continue the wall of noise, driving the frenzied dolphins to the shore of a cove where the fishermen then fence the dolphins in, effectively trapping them and impeding their escape. The next day “seaquarium tourist merchants” gather in the shallow cove waters inspecting and selecting dolphins to be send off around the world to the tourist seaquariums.
If you think this is an innocent practice, so far, think again: Dolphins are highly intelligent creatures, endowed with self-awareness, and a highly sensitive sonar communication system. In other words, they are conscious of what is taking place as it is happening, and, being sound oriented, captivity in places with large gatherings of cheering tourists seriously injures their health and can even kill them.
But if you are not about to give up on your thrill of a performing dolphin for your amusing entertainment, think about the ones that are not selected to perform at a seaquarium, the ones left behind.
“The Cove” captures the luck of this lot: Once the “seaquarium tourist merchants” have made their seaquarium shipment selections, the majority of the dolphins get left out, these left out dolphins are then driven by the Taijii fishermen to another “secret cove” where they are mercilessly slaughtered with harpoons. The massacre is so grand in scale that the waters of the cove turn into a sea of blood, a red sea.
The slaughtered animals are then disseminated into the Japanese markets, where their dissected parts are sold as whale meat, to hide the fact that dolphin meat is not fit for human consumption, due to its high levels of mercury.
The process is repeated over, and over, and over again each year between September and March. If this continues, it’s only a matter of time before Dolphins are a thing of the past.
WHAT’S MY TAKE AWAY?
“The Cove” experience made me sick to my stomach.
As I’m aware that my actions can impact this industry, with a one-man-one-vote approach, I decided not to eat any fish or fish products which I did not capture myself, and giving that I’m no fisherman, the chances of me eating fish are slim to none.
You will not ever find me among the seaquarium tourists.
And lastly, I encourage You to get a hold of “The Cove” see for yourself; and if so inclined, do something.
At the end of “The Cove” you are asked to text DOLPHIN to 44144 or got to TakePart.com/TheCove, if you want to help the dolphins.
I’m am encouraged in the notion that you will read this blog and you will find your own way to contribute. From my sprit to yours, thank you!
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