The Cove

SPLASH COURSE The Cove educates viewers in the dangers of dolphin-flogging.

In The Cove’s much-discussed punch line—there’s no point in not revealing this—former Flipper trainer turned dolphin advocate Richard O’Barry marches into a conference of people ostensibly sympathetic to the idea of gutting adorable sea mammals. He’s got a monitor strapped to his chest, and on it is footage of dolphin slaughter from the Japanese fishing port of Taiji.

We’ve already seen this footage, of course, and O’Barry’s associates have gone to incredible lengths to get it (though a helicopter later appears to fly over the bloody cove easily enough). The question is: Does this coup bolster the argument, or merely confirm a suspicion of grandstanding? To be fair, The Cove alleges a conspiracy so vast that subterfuge is necessary. But that doesn’t make the presentation any less manipulative or redundant.

Casting himself as a talking head (not a Michael Moore–like presence, but an actual “expert” figure sitting in a chair), Psihoyos deserves credit for bringing an underreported topic to a mass audience. Even so, The Cove makes a point with which no one, short of those who club seals for a living, could disagree. There are very good reasons not to kill and eat dolphins. They’re intelligent. They’re loving. They’ve got more mercury than even tuna. Compared to an innovative enviro-doc like Darwin’s Nightmare (2004), it’s hard to see The Cove as anything other than good intentions hampering good filmmaking.

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