You'll be scraping plans for the family holiday to Sea World after seeing Blackfish, Gabriela Cowperthwaite's eye opening and frankly quite scary documentary focussing on the captivity of Orca whales and in particular Tilikum a male killer whale that has a proved track record of violence towards humans.
Blackfish is no doubt a very objectionable documentary where all talking heads involved are against the incarceration of these great beasts but then again the arguments and evidence presented by Cowperthwaite are hard to deny. Cowperthwaite does a fantastic job of offering reasons behind whales acting out and it's clear to see that these animals have more going on emotionally and mentally than many humans would give them credit for. This is particularly evident in the films centrepiece Tilikum.
Tilikum as explained in the film was captured at a young age and suffered abuse at the hands of other whales in his various enclosures. This abuse and mistreatment has lead the whale to become angry and unpredictable resulting in the death of 3 human beings. The cover up and misleading of information regarding these deaths is quite astounding and ex-trainers of Sea World talk openly about how stunned they were that the truth behind the deaths is hidden in the public. These startling facts and first-hand accounts by trainers are all major reasons why Blackfish is a must see.
Blackfish may not be the most daring or inventive documentary to reach our shores this year and it's one sided documentation of its argument can be seen of somewhat of a downfall but it's never less than compelling viewing and deserves to be seen by as many people as possible as an example of humans being humans – that is being to stupid to admit they are wrong.
3 and a half dorsal fins out of 5
For more movie reviews and opinions check out -
www.jordanandeddie.wordpress.com
Blackfish is no doubt a very objectionable documentary where all talking heads involved are against the incarceration of these great beasts but then again the arguments and evidence presented by Cowperthwaite are hard to deny. Cowperthwaite does a fantastic job of offering reasons behind whales acting out and it's clear to see that these animals have more going on emotionally and mentally than many humans would give them credit for. This is particularly evident in the films centrepiece Tilikum.
Tilikum as explained in the film was captured at a young age and suffered abuse at the hands of other whales in his various enclosures. This abuse and mistreatment has lead the whale to become angry and unpredictable resulting in the death of 3 human beings. The cover up and misleading of information regarding these deaths is quite astounding and ex-trainers of Sea World talk openly about how stunned they were that the truth behind the deaths is hidden in the public. These startling facts and first-hand accounts by trainers are all major reasons why Blackfish is a must see.
Blackfish may not be the most daring or inventive documentary to reach our shores this year and it's one sided documentation of its argument can be seen of somewhat of a downfall but it's never less than compelling viewing and deserves to be seen by as many people as possible as an example of humans being humans – that is being to stupid to admit they are wrong.
3 and a half dorsal fins out of 5
For more movie reviews and opinions check out -
www.jordanandeddie.wordpress.com