BLACKFISH

US, 2013, 80 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Gabriel Cowperthwaite.

Save the whale!

This has been an environmentalist cry for many decades, to save the whales in the ocean, to protest against Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean, other whaling nations, and the concern about beached whales and those in captivity, the Free Willy syndrome. The Free Willy films offer child-friendly stories. The documentary, The Cove, offers grim facts from Japan.

Blackfish is in this vein, it shows its skill as a documentary by enticing the audience with scenes from Sea World in Florida, the antics of whales and porpoises in the theme parks, with commentary from several of the trainers who worked in Sea World in the past. For a moment, for the unwary, it looks as if this might be an advertisement for Sea World and other parks.

It is not.

After being led, or lulled, into some sympathy, we then get the facts from the point of view of the writer and the director. We are informed that there have been several deaths of trainers in different theme parks and we are shown footage of those tragedies. However, the main focus is on the death of a trainer in 2010, Dawn Brancheau, the lack of information from the Sea World management and the excuses, the blame on human error and the trainer, the lack of information for the media about the whale itself, its history, and what really happens to whales and their psyches, so to speak, because of their captivity, restrictions, training and punishments, and their performances.

The witnesses who are interviewed for the film seem to be a credible and creditable group. They fill in the background of their ambitions when they join SeaWorld?, employment and the development of their talents, the exhilaration of being in the water with the whales. Now, they offer some criticism of the management of the theme parks as well as the captivity of the whales. While Sea World declined to be interviewed for the film, some footage is shown of the management in court cases, the film very critical of their testimony and deflection of blame and responsibility. There are also one or other experts who are of the opinion that the whales are not harmed by their being captured, trained and performing.

As a counter to this, there are some sequences of the capturing of the whales, especially the young whales and taking them for sale to the theme parks and rough treatment in some failed European parks.

The main attention is given to the death of the trainer in 2010, a great deal of footage available to show what happened, for an interpretation of the behaviour of the whale, as a counter-criticism to management. And a great deal of sympathy from other trainers for this young woman who died unexpectedly.

The whale in question, Tilikum, becomes something of the star of the show at about the halfway point, but also becoming the villain who kills. Explanations and visuals are offered about his capture, his early career, his dangerous behaviour, his being sold on to Sea World, his training, his performances, his violent action against the trainer. The conclusion that the screenplay draws is that it is wrong to take the whales from the ocean and their life and freedom, and to confine them in such narrow surroundings, and using deprivation of food as a means of training. It is affirmed that this makes the whales very dangerous, despite audiences delighting in their tricks, leaps, diving.

While, in some ways, this film is preaching to the converted, and the unconverted will maintain that whales in captivity are quite safe, not harmed, and not a real threat to the trainers, this is a film which might make a number of converts to the cause of the whales, save the whales, in its appeal to the audiences and their sensibilities and sensitivities.