The Cove
Horrors occur all around the globe, under varying levels of spotlight beams. Some, however, deserve (to use the term pejoratively) much more exposure than they have ever received previously. One such macabre violation of dignity is the dolphin genocide taking place in Taijii, Japan, where a group sanctioned by the government is herding, trapping, and killing hundreds of dolphins every day of the year under a veil of secrecy. Led by Richard O’Barry, who trained the original Flipper dolphins, a group resembling Oceans 11 in many ways (a fact not lost on the key players in this film) takes high-tech equipment into Taijii in order to document the atrocities.
O’Barry, a lifelong dolphin lover, was actually a major participant during the initial attempts to take dolphins into captivity when he joined the crew of Flipper. He trained the dolphins and grew to love them. It is his contention, as well that of a growing number of experts in the field the world over, that dolphins are special among non-human animals for one very important reason: they are conscious. All animals have some form of consciousness, sure, but these people maintain that dolphins are conscious in a way akin to humans: more specifically, they are self-conscious. They have a sense of self, a complex emotional life, and are highly intelligent creatures. Because of this, O’Barry and others have made it their life’s goal to pursue the end of dolphin captivity and genocide.
Consciousness is an elusive concept. Self-consciousness is fairly simple to understand from the first-person point of view, but to discern whether another being is self-conscious has posed philosophical problems for a long time. For fear of solipsism, we assume that all (or at least the vast majority) of us, human beings, are conscious - and self-conscious – beings. It goes without saying that to discern whether a non-human animal is actually self-conscious might be a tricky conundrum.
One such self-consciousness “testing” method used is quite simple, really: a mirror. If, when faced with a large mirror, a given entity shows signs that they understand that the image being shown to them is, in fact, them and not another entity, then there seems to be some certainty that the entity in question is self-conscious to a certain extent. Dolphins, when put to this “test,” reveal that they are quite aware that is their image being shown back to them. O’Barry is certain, in fact, that when watching herself on TV, one of the dolphins who played Flipper was very much aware that it was herself on the screen, not another dolphin; moreover, when another dolphin was on the TV, O’Barry says he is certain she knew that too.
The Cove is a fascinating and adventurous documentary look at the world of sea life generally and dolphins (and whales) in particular. Specifically, is it wrong to kill a self-conscious creature, if that creature is non-human? We certainly think it immoral to kill another human, and we have a word for it: murder. When it’s an animal, we say it was “killed,” but rarely, if ever, do we refer to a “murdered animal.” It is this rather simple juxtaposition of the words “kill” and “murder” that elucidates the whole premise of this film. When does self-consciousness begin? Furthermore, if self-consciousness is present in non-human animals, are we ethically obligated not to kill those animals without due cause? Would that be murder?
The film seems to conclude fairly unequivocally that killing dolphins is, indeed, wrong. Whether you agree or not, there’s another, much easier, conclusion that the film makes as well: certainly you cannot watch the massacre of hundreds of dolphins on their secret footage without feeling that some form of ethical violation is taking place, something that must be stopped, regardless of your position on non-human animal consciousness.
Are there “more important” international goals to pursue? That, of course, depends on who you are. And for people like Richard O’Barry, there is little more important in life than pursuing what you feel to be your calling. It is his calling, and he pleads with the viewer as well, to save dolphins from the butchery inflicted on them year round. The fate of dolphins everywhere rests on his decision, and he is urging the viewer to take part.
Rating: 3.5/4 Stars
