In a sleepy lagoon off the coast of Japan was once a shocking secret. A secret that a few desperate men made sure would be no longer kept hidden from the world: thousands of dolphins were, and still are, being captured and sold to the world’s theme parks. Those who don’t make the cut are horrifically tortured and slaughtered—their mercury-laden meat sold under the guise of being “acceptable” flesh for consumption to an unsuspecting Japanese public. It’s a real life horror story—one that is now well and truly public.
The men who risked their lives to tell the world about this atrocity include Louise Psihoyos, a director with a cause who has not only caught the world’s attention, but also the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences, with his film, The Cove, which is up for best documentary at the Awards this weekend (March 7).
The Cove begins in Taiji, Japan, where former dolphin trainer Ric O’Barry has come to set things right after a long search for redemption. In the 1960s, it was O’Barry who captured and trained the five dolphins who played the title character in the international television sensation “Flipper.” But his close relationship with those dolphins – the very dolphins who sparked a global fascination with trained sea mammals that continues to this day — led O’Barry to a radical change of heart. One fateful day, a heartbroken Barry came to realise that these deeply sensitive, highly intelligent and self-aware creatures so beautifully adapted to life in the open ocean must never be subjected to human captivity again.
It wasn’t until years after this realisation that Ric met Louie and the idea for The Cove was born, and more importantly, put into action.
With Jim Clark, Louie also created The Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS), in 2005. The non-profit organization provides an exclusive lens for the public and media to observe the beauty as well as the destruction of the oceans, while motivating change.
I recently caught up with Louie to talk about what it took to plan, shoot and promote the eco-thriller film. Stay tuned for an interview with Ric O’Barry in the coming days.
Firstly Louie, congratulations in such an incredible documentary. How long did it take to make from idea to final print?
The film took about three and a half years to make, but Laurie David, who produced An Inconvenient Truth told me a year ago that when you’re done making a documentary you’re only halfway there. The film came out a year ago this week and I’m still out promoting the movie. But fortunately most of the traveling is going to film festivals around the world that are in amazing beautiful places meeting great people who are passionate about films so I’m learning a lot at the same time, and not just talking about our film. And at the film festivals the film has been received very well, mostly standing ovations. Even at the Tokyo Film Festival the response was amazing – we had as much media coverage as Avatar.
How did the idea evolve?
I had just started a non-profit organization called The Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS) with the help of my dive friend, Jim Clark who is an extraordinary visionary. When president John F. Kennedy called for Americans to put a man on the moon back in 1961, it was Jim, at age 26 created and sped the computers to make that possible. Jim is now an inventor and a venture capitalists, kind of a serial entrepreneur. He founded Silicon Graphics, which was the Apple Computer of it’s day, the chip Jim built allowed objects to be constructed in 3-D which allowed movies like Jurassic Park to be made. The day he quit that business he started Netscape, the first commercial Internet browser which was the first avenue that many of us got on the so-called information super highway. The third billion-dollar company he created he joked that he started to prove that the first two were not just luck, but I used information from that medical website to save my mother’s life last year. When Jim funded OPS to make films and create still images to try to create awareness about ocean issues, I reminded him that saving the oceans wasn’t going to be a billion dollar industry and he told me, “I’m not worried about making money, just make a difference.”
There is much responsibility in being entrusted with funds from a friend and a man I regard so highly with so many personal accomplishments but making a difference is the driving motivation for OPS to do everything we do. I always told the film crew that we’re not making a movie, we’re starting a movement to save the oceans. This higher goal informs all of our decisions.
How did you come to meet Ric O’Barry?
Two months after starting OPS I was at a marine mammal conference in San Diego and Ric O’Barry was supposed to be the keynote speaker at the event of mostly PhD speakers. I was looking forward to hearing someone from popular culture speak after a week of quite a few fairly boring talks. But at the last moment, the sponsor of the event, SeaWorld, cut him from the program. I was curious why so I called Ric and he said that they wouldn’t let him talk because he was going to speak about the captive dolphin industry and the world’s largest slaughter of dolphins on the planet.
I had never heard about the captive dolphin industry nor killing of dolphins so I asked him who was doing anything about it and he said right now it was just him and he was going next week, would I like to come to Taiji with him. Driving into Taiji was like driving into a ready made horror film set. On the surface they appear to love dolphins and whales, there’s even a sign coming into town with Anime-style drawings of dolphins that says in English, “We love dolphins.” However right in the center of town lies the Cove. This is in a Japanese National Park, where even Japanese people can’t get into because of the steel gates, keep-out signs, barbed wire, dogs and guards. This is the cove where these crimes against nature and humanity occur – right in the middle of a nature preserve!
What did you learn, personally and professionally, from the whole process?
Ric is the one that taught me to appreciate dolphins from the moment we visited him in Taiji. He opened my eyes. And whales I learned from the grandfather of modern cetacean research, Roger Payne just a few months later. Roger led an OPS expedition to record humpback whale song at the Silver Banks Marine Sanctuary in the Dominican Republic. I’m a lot more sensitive about animal rights now. Once you learn that these animals sing, in fact just about all animals sing, it turns out that we just have not been listening, it’s difficult for me to imagine killing them.
After photographing a slaughter house 25 years ago, I have not eaten animals that walk. I’m transition now to non-leather shoes and suitcases and eating far less fish and certainly no large long-lived fish like tuna, swordfish, marlin shark or large sea bass. I’m not militant about others not eating animals, my wife and kids eat meat, but I have vegan friends that I’m trying to emulate because I think if the planet is going to survive with humans on it we’re all going to have to stop eating animals not just because it’s inhumane but because the planet can’t survive with all the destruction.
Has the public response to The Cove been as you expected or greater?
We have seen footage this year of the dolphin hunters releasing bottlenose dolphins after taking some for dolphin parks. So, some show dolphins have been saved from the cove but they are still killing many others like pilot whales and Rissos dolphins which are true dolphins and some of the most toxic. Unfortunately we may not be able to shut down the killing cove this year but we hope to have a Japanese distributor soon that can help us get the word out.
Because of the film a health agency was assigned to assess how poisoned the people of Taiji are and they discovered a massive epidemic of mercury poisoning, some with extremely high Minamata levels of mercury in their blood.
Also, for the first time the Japanese media is covering the issue. Ric is followed around by the media like a celebrity now. When I went to Tokyo for the Tokyo Film Festival last October, there were about 90 news media outlets covering the film.
If you win the Oscar you’ll be given a platform to speak directly to millions in Japan and the rest of the world. What do you think you’d say?
Mark Twain said it best, “I would have written a shorter letter but I didn’t have enough time.” Here’s the deal though, I’m not in the movie business as much as I’m in the save the world business — you are too. I’m thanking you all now here, thank you all! But if you had 45 seconds to talk to the world — what would YOU say?
The Cove director, Louie Psihoyos
this is a great interview shannon!