Ric O‘Barry is a man in pain. The guy who trained the dolphins for the ‘Flipper‘ television show, O‘Barry helped usher in the era of the dolphinarium. Convinced that at least one of the animals he trained committed suicide to escape its captive existence, O‘Barry is haunted not by the ‘what ifs‘ of life but by what he did the day that fat TV contract was put in front of him. As he regrets his past - seemingly on a minute by minute basis - Ric O‘Barry now has a shot at redemption. For in Japan‘s Taiji Cove, his flippered friends are facing a crisis so great, some compare it to genocide. To say more about either the Taiji atrocities or O‘Barry‘s efforts at intervention would take the edge off Louis Psihoyos‘ documentary. Let‘s just say that after an evening watching The Cove, Jeremy Clarkson would be putting a call through to Greenpeace.

　　A success on the festival circuit, The Cove has garnered awards as readily as it has attracted criticism. Those who‘ve spoken out against the movie have voiced concerns about the efficacy of Psihoyos‘ storytelling and the legality of O‘Barry‘s actions. If the picture has its problems, they‘re as nothing compared to, say, the probing polemics of Michael Moore which, while thoroughly entertaining, are documentaries in name only. And for as long as the movie plays, talk of ethics need only apply to the heart-rendering slaughter that occurs behind the barbwire and ‘KEEP OUT‘ signs of Taiji cove.

　　
At a time when most every documentary seems to have ecological concerns, The Cove stands out from the crowd due to the readily apparent awfulness of the event it depicts. Yes, global warming is a grim evil, but while we might notice that the ice caps grow a little smaller each year, its cost defies recognition on a day-to-day basis. But as we watch the slaughter of the Taiji schools, it‘s very clear that something very wrong is going on at this very moment in Japan. And as for the mercury-ridden dolphin meat being relabeled and sold to school