This documentary, made by Louie Psihoyos, was created to raise awareness of the Taiji dolphin issue. Where the Taiji island inhabitants captured then tortured of the helpless dolphins. This documentary successfully won multiple awards and was a big hit, raising awareness by showing the audience that hunting and killing the dolphins was immoral and needed to be stopped.
The documentary shows how the dolphins are lured into their death, the fishermen use a piercing sound to lure them into the cove where they are either killed and sold for meat or kept for captivity. The documentary uses real-life footage of the dolphins which makes it more visually effective. The dolphins that are kept for captivity are sold to people so they can train them and used for dolphin shows. They fetch prices around $32,000 to $250,000.
The documentary has real-life interviews with people, for example, Ric O'Barry, who's role in the documentary is really moving for the audience as they feel guilty while he shares his personal experiences with dolphins in his past. His story that when he first began his journey, he believed that being captivity would not be detrimental to the dolphins but would have wide spread benefits. He changed his mind when the dolphin he kept in captivity died in his own arms. He felt this showed that dolphins are very sensitive and maybe think like us humans.
Another technique the filmmaker used was showing footage of the dolphins all innocent in their natural habitat, then cut to them being caught and taken into captivity. This is really effective for the viewers as they get to see the contrast between the dolphins being happy to be slaughtered. Overall this hybrid documentary was a great success evidenced by the awards they won and the good reviews and reactions from the audience. In my opinion some of the real-life footage used of the dolphins getting hunted, was really brutal and I found it really hard to watch.
The documentary shows how the dolphins are lured into their death, the fishermen use a piercing sound to lure them into the cove where they are either killed and sold for meat or kept for captivity. The documentary uses real-life footage of the dolphins which makes it more visually effective. The dolphins that are kept for captivity are sold to people so they can train them and used for dolphin shows. They fetch prices around $32,000 to $250,000.
The documentary has real-life interviews with people, for example, Ric O'Barry, who's role in the documentary is really moving for the audience as they feel guilty while he shares his personal experiences with dolphins in his past. His story that when he first began his journey, he believed that being captivity would not be detrimental to the dolphins but would have wide spread benefits. He changed his mind when the dolphin he kept in captivity died in his own arms. He felt this showed that dolphins are very sensitive and maybe think like us humans.
Another technique the filmmaker used was showing footage of the dolphins all innocent in their natural habitat, then cut to them being caught and taken into captivity. This is really effective for the viewers as they get to see the contrast between the dolphins being happy to be slaughtered. Overall this hybrid documentary was a great success evidenced by the awards they won and the good reviews and reactions from the audience. In my opinion some of the real-life footage used of the dolphins getting hunted, was really brutal and I found it really hard to watch.
Saturday 6th October 2018