The Cove (2009)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Such a frustrating disappointment

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

It is a performances centric movie

I've loved dolphins and animals in general my entire life, and when I was 11 years old I was planning to do a dolphin swim during a vacation to Mexico. I was looking more forward to this dolphin swim than just about anything, and had no knowledge of the horrific industry that drives it.So five years ago, just a few months before my vacation, I saw a preview for this film premiering on Animal Planet. I didn't understand the preview much, but knew it had something to do with the killing of dolphins. The next time I saw it, I showed it to my father and asked him what it was about. He didn't exactly tell me, but encouraged me to watch it. I was hesitant since I love dolphins and am very sensitive when it comes to animals, but we agreed to record the premiere and watch it together.So watched we did. I understood everything perfectly, with the help of a little explaining from my parents. By the end, I was crying too hard to even speak and was completely baffled by the cruelty displayed in the film. I canceled my dolphin swim and decided that day that I would never support the captivity of cetaceans. I even started an ultimately unsuccessful blog attempting to raise awareness about it. I'm now 16 and my feelings are the same. I believe that watching this film was a huge jump of maturity for me, it truly changed me as a person. I encourage everyone to view this film and really think about it and what it means. I think that The Cove and other great documentaries about animal cruelty should be shown in schools, and maybe the world would become a better place.

The Cove was really really eye opening I feel like I learnt so much watching it and it really opened my eyes to what Is going on in parts of the world that is completely and utterly vile and half of us like myself don't even know it's going on! The film is really good I like the way it is done it's done as if you feel like you are going along with them, the ending bits were very moving, It's hard to say a lot about this film because you need to watch it to understand how affecting it is what's scary most about it all is that it's real this is a real life horror movie a smack to your face with reality, some bits in The Cove made me feel sick to my stomachs and made me literally cry my heart out I was heart broken! The Cove makes you feel so many emotions and has really made me want to help save/free the dolphins. I recommend everyone watches it!

The Cove is a world-class documentary that is worthy of its Oscar and any praise that it receives. Taking a look at the slaughter of dolphins in a small town in Japan, this documentary is informative, suspenseful and thought-provoking.Directed by Louie Psihoyos and having an a large of array of specialists, this film doesn't bore you like a number of documentary's I've seen but engages the viewer while educating. It doesn't simply point the finger, it tells you why their pointing, who their pointing it at and what their going to do about it. Taking an undeniably one-sided view, it relentlessly pounds into the cause into the viewer and really hits him. Even if the films point-of-view rarely deters from the activist, Western side it is an emotional view to look from and one which personally filled me with a mixture of emotions.I particularly liked (if liked is this right word) the last 15 minutes. This is by far some of the most brutal and harrowing footage I have ever witnessed and found that it dug deep. My girlfriend was unable to contain her emotions and cried which only made the finale of this film that much harder to bare. While I don't think this film is for the close-minded, I believe everyone should see this film regardless of your view point on animal welfare. Personally, I stand as close to the activists and people who do this with great passion as I can without becoming actively involved. Besides looking at the cruelty that takes place in Taijin, Japan it also looks how it effects Japan as a whole and the Western world, touching slightly on the global impact which not only dolphin slaughter will cause but whales and other sea-life also. I thought this film was profoundly touching and emotionally driven by a group of individuals who really care for dolphins particularly Ric O'Barry who during the 1960s used to capture dolphins and train them and who has been trying to make amends since.A passionate film and worthy of all the praise it gets. Well done.Originally written: 7/24/10

Let's face it Americans are in no position to start preaching on animal welfare and the environment, after killing pretty much every living thing in their own region. You can already imagine this film without even watching it - the usual Michael Moore type of affair, starting with stacks of emotive footage about dolphins and their intelligence and so on and how these American activist world saviours are going to save them and how the Japanese are all supposedly poisoning themselves with mercury buy eating dolphin meat and so on and so on, whilst completely missing the cultural complexity surrounding the hunting of dolphins and its tradition.The film has few redeeming qualities. The bloodbath footage at the end is just shocking, emotive and leaves us with no answers. To tackle this problem is to understand clearly its cultural basis in places like Japan and the Faroe Islands and this film makes zero effort to do that.It's understanding of the situation is not unlike a bunch of Jewish people going to a pig farm in America to film pig slaughter.