The Power of Images

This is the first blog post I have ever written without a photo. That is because the visual part of this blog is found at The Oriental movie theatre through Thursday, October 15, 2009.

I have just viewed the movie, "The Cove." Having seen the trailer and knowing it would be difficult to see, I felt I had to bear witness to the work of a skilled, covert team who risked their lives and freedom to extract the short footage of the inhuman slaughter of up to 23,000 bottled-nose dolphins every September - March, in Taji, Japan. If you're already thinking that you could never see this film, please reconsider. It begs you to take action, as the dolphins cannot talk or even swim their way out of this daily entrapment.

The power of this film begins with Ric O'Barry - the man that trained Flipper. Ric admits that his work with Flipper has lead to the exploitation of dolphins for the purposes of dolphin/porpoise water shows, 'swim with the dolphins' parks and lastly, human consumption. He now works to end this exploitation. I think the film does a superb job of explaining the science behind dolphin behavior and communication, and why containment of this cetacean is counter to their lives in the wild.

The actual footage of a series of International Whaling Commission meetings exposes the Japanese government's attempts to continue with their 'whaling' practices by the monetary manipulation of poorer countries, who can swing their IWC vote in the favor of the Japanese.

The film also exposes the Japanese governmental coverup of the Taji, Japan operations, that even go so far as to sell dolphin meat, labeled as whale meat. Even the Japanese people do not know that they are eating mercury ladened dolphin meat with up to 2000 ppm (part per million) of mercury, when the allowable rate is 4 ppm. In Taji, Japan, the school lunch program was built around the compulsory consumption of dolphin meat. That practice has ended, thankfully, due to the actions of two councilmen that wanted to protect their children from the ravaging effects of mercury toxicity.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/thecove