I've been waiting months for a chance to see the documentary "The Cove". When I was finally able to watch it I couldn't help coming away vastly disappointed. The theme of the movie was right on the money, the action was great and intense, but after the movie ended I couldn't help but feel a little dirty. I'm a big fan of documentaries, and I like to think that I can spot bullshit when I see it, and over the years I've gotten better at spotting subtle BS when it's presented. When I was in high school I thought "Bowling for Columbine" was a great documentary, and while I still agree with it's overall message, and believe it's a great film, it's a terrible documentary. That's how I feel about "The Cove" as well, and here's why.
SCIENTIFIC INACCURACY
Near the beginning of the film, we see a passionate quasi-memoir from Richard O'Barry about his time on the set of Flipper, as well as his experiences with dolphins in captivity. While I agree that dolphins and whales shouldn't be in captivity, because humans just can't provide them with the necessary space for their lives to be fulfilling, something he said struck me as odd, and made me suspicious of the film as a whole. O'Barry stated that where they keep the food for dolphins they also keep a wide variety of things like Maalox or Pepto Bismol because the dolphins are stressed out in captivity, which in turn causes ulcers. I have no doubt that the dolphins are stressed out, but stress is not proven to cause ulcers. Although this was thought to be the case for years, it's been known for quite some time that peptic ulcers (which is what O'Barry was referring to) are caused by a bacteria called Helicobacter pylori. There is debate as to whether stress can impact the susceptibility to ulceration, but with no concrete definition of what stress actually is, and no conclusive proof to link stress and ulcers, I found this to be a dodgy comment to present as fact to viewers who may be uneducated on the subject, showing that the makers of the film are willing to bend facts to fit an agenda. Not a good sign in a documentary. There's also the issue of using an antacid to treat the ulcer. 5-10 years ago that would be normal, but today I'd have to imagine it's very rare considering ulcers are almost always treated with antibiotics. Antacids like Maalox could only be used as a preventative measure, to tone down stomach acid.
RELIANCE ON SHODDY "EXPERTS"
Another huge red flag flew up when I noticed the use of Paul Watson, leader of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) as a source of some kind. Paul Watson is a criminal, a borderline terrorist, and a known liar. He's been caught several times faking animal cruelty and filming it, paying people to bash baby seals with clubs for example, in order to further his agenda. His group, the SSCS, regularly attempts to disable fishing vessels in open water, leaving people stranded, and putting people in danger. His self importance and ego is on full display in the film as he wears a fake badge as he attempts to give himself some sort of credibility, when really all he's doing is reaffirming how immature he is, and destroying the integrity of a film with a good purpose.
INSINUATION OF FALSEHOODS
At one point in the film, about 3 minutes are dedicated to attempting to suggest that dolphins "might be" even smarter than humans. Clearly this depends on how you measure intelligence, and I've always loved the quote from Douglas Adams;
“Man has always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much...the wheel, New York, wars and so on... while all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man...for precisely the same reason.”But all joking aside here, in every way we can measure intelligence, humans are far smarter than dolphins. Let's not kid ourselves. If dolphins were as smart as the movie intends to imply, they wouldn't have to make this movie because 1) they'd be the dominant species on earth, 2) they wouldn't be getting herded into the same cove over and over again for years to be slaughtered without fail. Insinuating at all that there's even a fraction of a chance that dolphins maintain the same level of intelligence as humans, or even a greater intelligence, is irresponsible, and reeks of Hollywood tripe. I'm not saying that dolphins are not smart, or even that they aren't self aware, but they are not at human level intelligence, and they can not attain human level intelligence because their biology won't allow it. The encephalization quotient (a formula to measure brain size to body size ratio accurately) of bottlenose dolphins is between 4-5 whereas humans are between 6.5-7.5. Not to mention that dolphin brains are less advanced than human brains overall.
STEREOTYPES
The final major problem I had was with the tone and presentation of this film. The entire time I couldn't help but notice how the Japanese were cast, not as wrong on an issue, but as willingly evil. They then literally called all those who sided with the Japanese in the International Whaling Commission (IWC) prostitutes. It was odd to me that every single one of the people in the film participating in the expose were white, and that none of the allies of Japan shown in the film were white. There was a very clear notion of the noble white Americans crusading around the world to show all the savages how to live. This cheapened the message to me, would it be too much to ask for a Japanese person who disagreed with slaughtering dolphins to be included on the team?
WHAT REMAINS
While the film itself has been sullied to me, the overall message they're trying to get across is a good one. What's going on in Taiji, Japan is shockingly appalling to the point of being sadistic, and over-fishing is a real and important concern in the coming decades. It's too bad they couldn't do a better job editing out the Hollywoodisms and poor judgement calls, because I really wanted to like this movie more than I did.
