Post by unanimous on Jan 17, 2010 13:44:10 GMT 3
This is a documentary about the annual slaughter of dolphins in a little town in Japan called Taiji. Obviously, for horrific reasons and to preserve their business, taking pictures or footages of actual slaughter in this town is prohibited and is helped and enforced by local authorities.
Fishermen in Taiji can make as much as $150,000 if they sell a live dolphin to be trained and displayed in water parks; $600 for their meat to be sold as food usually disguised as something else. Dolphins are not actually fit for food consumption because of the toxic levels of mercury that they have - yet the practice goes on and their business seem to thrive.
Ric Obary, the former trainer for the TV show Flipper, has been trying to free dolphins in captivity for the past 35 years and have been trying to help impose ban on slaughtering of dolphins. He has been living in Japan for sometime trying to help further the cause of the dolphins and educate people about their plight and what goes on in taiji. however, it's kinda impossible to do so when he couldnt even get a picture of what actually goes on there. He is hounded by police, followed pretty much wherever he goes, and fishermen are trying to rile him so he can get deported and be banned from returning to japan and be out of their hair. Remember hayden panetierre when she tried to swim with the dolphins and help ban dolphin slaughter? yeps, that's in taiji and she's not allowed to go back there again.
This film documents how obary and a bunch of talented strangers got together and were finally able to get proof of what goes on there, risking life and freedom, devising an ingenous plan to finally get a footage of the cove.
This film is quite enraging and really heartbreaking....should be shown to a big audience to educate.
go watch!