From the creepy thermal-camera footage of its opening credits to the covert missions under the cover of darkness, this activist documentary plays like a spy thriller more than anything else. Centered around Ric O’Barry, dolphin trainer to Flipper who has since become a champion for dolphin rights around the world, The Cove visits Taijii, Japan, where an estimated 23,000 dolphins are slaughtered each year for their meat. Considering director Louie Psihoyos and his team aid O’Barry in exposing this practice by capturing candid footage, don’t expect any interviews here defending the side of the Japanese (not that there appears to be one). The Cove is horrifyingly convincing, yet the documentary also made me wonder: could a similar one be made by a cow enthusiast about the slaughterhouses of America?
