I’d like to see this, and with my pescetarian friends if I can swing it. I know it won an Oscar for Best Documentary 2009, but that wasn’t what persuaded me. It was listening to an interview on CBC Radio last night with the director, Louie Psihoyos, who was a National Geographic photographer for 18 years, talk about Richard O’Barry and why the crew took the risks to make the film. (Incidentally, two of the crew are Canadian, the expedition director and one of the free divers.)
I’ve stated my bias against dolphin shows on my site as long as I’ve been writing here (nearly eight years), but I’m fairly certain watching this film would encourage me to be more vocal about it than ever. The only way I can bring myself to watch the dolphins at the Vancouver Aquarium with my nieces and nephew is that the facility has a no-capture policy in place since the ’90s, but even then I can’t help but feel sadness about any animals in captivity. I’m aware of the wealth of research going on behind the scenes, it’s the “scenes” that don’t sit well with me. Rescuing creatures from harm is one thing, but capturing for the benefit of human entertainment? No thanks, I’m sure we can come up with a better way to fund the research than trap wild animals and force them to live in tiny, artificial environments and perform stunts for food.
