Being a veggie, I make the conscious decision to not be directly involved in the killing of the animals for my pleasure. Zoos and aquariums have also been places where I found it depressing to watch sentient beings locked up so we can goggle at them, and watching Blackfish hurt my "soul". Gabriela Cowperthwaite clearly feels impassioned about the plight of these abused, neglected and misunderstood animals, and this comes across on the screen.
First of all using the talking head's format gives a great deal of emotional weight to the topic. Cowperthwaite essentially distills the sense of frustration and helplessness of all those involved in capturing, training and maintaining the lives of the whales, and I found it especially difficult listening the labourer recounting how he captured whales. Having the interviewee staring down the lens of the camera as he sheds tears of anger should certainly melt even the coldest heart.
Cowperthwaite also has a weight of live footage of the create a sense of gravitas. Watching a whale leap at its trainer as the trainer begs for their life is haunting, and I let out a few expletives in shock. Also splicing in news coverage of the deaths paints a sinister image of Seaworld; having corporate coverage contrasting with anecdotes shows that Seaworld have a lot to gain from covering up the many deaths and horrendous treatment of animals at their parks.
Cowperthwaite, however, seems like an absent interviewer; meaning that he allows the people to speak until they are ready to stop, and he doesn't try to push the interview in a certain direction. Not having any difficult interviews, and people volunteering information under fraudulent terms are apparent in the film. For example: "After the film's release, former SeaWorld trainer Bridgette Pirtle said the final film was 'a complete '180' from what was originally presented to me.'" So there is some agenda pushing, and this is aided by Seaworld refusing to take part in the film.
The film also ends cheese-ily. After the film spends the bones of 80 minutes trying to convince us to re-think our position on these abhorrent places, the message is undermined straight away by giving us a conclusion. Rather than leaving us with some difficult questions we need to answer, Cowperthwaite shows us, in a structural sense, that "everything worked out alright".
Despite some qualms with this documentary, I still believe this believe this to be important one. If this film achieves one thing, it is to bring an esoteric topic in to the conscience of the public, which should be the goal of every documentary.
First of all using the talking head's format gives a great deal of emotional weight to the topic. Cowperthwaite essentially distills the sense of frustration and helplessness of all those involved in capturing, training and maintaining the lives of the whales, and I found it especially difficult listening the labourer recounting how he captured whales. Having the interviewee staring down the lens of the camera as he sheds tears of anger should certainly melt even the coldest heart.
Cowperthwaite also has a weight of live footage of the create a sense of gravitas. Watching a whale leap at its trainer as the trainer begs for their life is haunting, and I let out a few expletives in shock. Also splicing in news coverage of the deaths paints a sinister image of Seaworld; having corporate coverage contrasting with anecdotes shows that Seaworld have a lot to gain from covering up the many deaths and horrendous treatment of animals at their parks.
Cowperthwaite, however, seems like an absent interviewer; meaning that he allows the people to speak until they are ready to stop, and he doesn't try to push the interview in a certain direction. Not having any difficult interviews, and people volunteering information under fraudulent terms are apparent in the film. For example: "After the film's release, former SeaWorld trainer Bridgette Pirtle said the final film was 'a complete '180' from what was originally presented to me.'" So there is some agenda pushing, and this is aided by Seaworld refusing to take part in the film.
The film also ends cheese-ily. After the film spends the bones of 80 minutes trying to convince us to re-think our position on these abhorrent places, the message is undermined straight away by giving us a conclusion. Rather than leaving us with some difficult questions we need to answer, Cowperthwaite shows us, in a structural sense, that "everything worked out alright".
Despite some qualms with this documentary, I still believe this believe this to be important one. If this film achieves one thing, it is to bring an esoteric topic in to the conscience of the public, which should be the goal of every documentary.