The Cove

In the 1960s, Ric O’Barry captured and trained dolphins for the hit television show Flipper. Regretful of his actions, he has since reinvented himself as a dolphin activist, working tirelessly to shine a light on the dark practices of dolphin capture and slaughter.

The Cove centres on O’Barry’s quest to expose the grim reality of dolphin drive hunting — the practice of herding dolphins into a confined area where they are either captured and sold to aquariums or brutally killed for their meat.

In the Japanese seaside village of Taiji, this highly profitable industry is conducted under a veil of secrecy. O’Barry is convinced that if the public were able to see actual footage of the slaughter, they would demand that it be stopped. The Cove is part nature documentary and part spy thriller, as the activist filmmakers use state-of-the-art technology and old-fashioned trickery to uncover the horrific truths hidden behind the walls of Taiji’s cove.