The Cove

This weekend, Nick and I went over to a friend's apartment to watch "The Cove" with several of our other friends. Nick and I had no clue what the movie was about and we were looking forward to a low key / relaxing night. Whew, we didn't know what we were in for...

"The Cove" is a documentary (just won the Oscar last night) on the mass slaughtering of dolpins off the coast of Taiji, Japan. It is one of the most gruesome and heartbreaking things that I have ever seen. The film documents a team of people that are determined to film and expose this slaughter. And they definitely had their work cut out for them - the Japanese fishermen and the town are extremely protective of this event and go to great lengths to hide what they are doing. Of course, the team prevails in getting the footage and it is extremely hard to watch. I pretty much had my eyes covered thru most of it. What little I did see made me cry - big crocodile tears. It was terrible - the lack of respect or care for these incredibly smart and self-aware creatures - I don't have the words to properly express.

I would recommend seeing the movie, just be prepared. I feel like some of the images I saw will stay with me for a long time. Oh, and the movie will probably leave you hating Japan - which isn't really fair as most Japanese don't know of the dolphin killing. But you definitely feel like "Roshambo"ing some of the people in the movie (like that South Park reference, Dad?) while watching it.