A few weeks ago I went to see a film called The Cove about the secret slaughter of dolphins in Japan and the shipping of the survivors to water parks (like Sea World) across the globe. I knew that if I wrote about the film then I would say something stupid and intemperate; unfortunately in the ensuing weeks I have not calmed down. If you get a chance to go see The Cove you should. Its a very well made documentary, both beautifully shot, oddly exciting and very moving. (There's a whole Soylent Green subtext too which is perversely funny). If self aggrandizing bully Michael Moore represents everything that is wrong with modern documentary film making, The Cove represents everything that is good. The hero of the film is Richard O'Barry who was the original trainer for Flipper and who after years of working in Hollywood had a Road to Damascus moment when one of his dolphins died in his arms....
The Cove is a wonderful film but you should probably skip it if you don't want your blood pressure to go through the roof. Also, don't take the kids. Here's Roger Ebert's four star review, and here's what Evan Williams said in The Australian.
43 comments:
i get a kick out of michael moore, more as an entertainer and provocateur than as a documentarian. generally i just like the fact that he stands up loudly and critiques things that need to be critiqued, and i get to laugh haughtily as he does so.
i read many reviews of The Cove and am looking forward to it despite the inevitable rage. as a scuba diver, i find underwater bad news even more depressing than the many depressing land-based movies i see, like most recently Frozen River, which confronted an important issue and starred a convincing lead actress but seemed to be directed and shot like a television after school special.
I'll be giving The Cove a wide berth. When I was growing up it seemed the news was always full of culls -- seals, elephants, pilot whales. I was permanently angry with the world back then. I don't think my arteries would stand the strain now.
The Cove was here but I was afraid to go see it. There are some kinds of images I don't want seared into my brain.
I think Michael Moore has sat times used some questionable tactics, but on the whole I've enjoyed his work. I am not sure how far he reaches beyond his inevitable base, though. I haven't seen Capitalism yet for some reason.
I like Michael Moore's treatment in "Team America" by the South Park guys. That was the most accurate a depiction of Moore that I've ever seen.
I just can’t see The Cove. If I never see another act of cruelty, I can live with it, I’ve seen enough. I’ll just continue to throw money at causes I believe in and hope for change. Hypocrite? Sticking my head in the sand? Maybe, but my cruelty meter is just too maxed out for now; one more tick and my head will explode.
HB
I liked Roger and Me (before I found out that it was mostly fiction) but it was Bowling for Columbine that turned me. I ended up teaching Columbine survivors and I felt very close to that school so when the parents begged him not to use the close circuit footage and then he used it anyway for a for-profit movie (i.e. he kept all the money the film made) thats when I turned against him.
His mocking of the kids who served in Iraq and Afghan hasnt won me back.
Michael
Definitely do not see it if you feel that you might have a rage induced heart attack.
Seana
The images were horrifying. In a lot of ways life is too short to have that in your head, I agree.
man, i didn't know about the columbine parents thing, and hadn't heard about the mocking of soldiers. i'm not with that either, bro.
Holden
Well the South Park guys actually grew up about five minutes away from Littleton, Colorado so I think Bowling For Columbine may have upset them a bit too. Especially when they refused to provide an animation for the film and Moore did a South Park esque animation in Bowling, implying that they had cooperated with him.
Yeah the Cove might kill you.
HB
I mean the thing about Moore is as you say he's an entertainer, he's not actually - I think - trying to change the world for good, he's just using his films to make money. He used to REALLY annoy me, but now he only annoys me somewhat.
Ralph Nader who knows him very well says that Moore has a dark soul.
(Of course Ralphy is a bit of a nut isn't he?)
The Cove is a very, very powerful film. Of course, I wonder how many people who watch it consider how many cattle are killed in North America every day.
I don't need any more stress at the moment. Watching Girardi handle the bullpen is bad enough.
That is just plain wrong to use that footage.
The South Park guys were in that movie, though, weren't they? One thing that did kind of stand out to me in that movie was his talking with them and how they said to all the disaffected youth, with violent tendencies or otherwise, hey kids, high school is only four years, not forever. Just get through it and things will be a lot different later. I also liked the interview with Marilyn Manson, who proved quite an articulate and thoughtful guy. Reminded me again of the distinction between dramatizing your life and 'acting out', especially with weaponry.
Where did he mock the servicemen?
Our floor manager was quite bemused when he got off the phone a couple of weeks ago. He said, "That was Ralph Nader". He was apparently promoting his book and just called us up directly. It was apparently all very low key and unassuming. I find that rather endearing. But then, I've always found Ralph rather endearing, even when I've thought he was wrong. I wonder how he came by that impression of Michael Moore.
Seana
He called them "dupes" for serving in Afghanistan a war he says is all about America's desire to build a pipeline across the country. LOL! I felt he mocked them throughout that entire film Farenheit 9/11 and in the interviews for it. His description of Al Qaeda in Iraq as latter day Minutemen didnt win me any favours. Also in Farenheit Ray Bradbury begged him prior to release not to use that title, but of course...
Yeah the South Park guys were furious about Columbine. They did an interview with him and they began to get a queasy feeling during it (they didnt feel that Moore's heart was in the right place) so when Moore asked if they could a South Park animation for Bowling they said no. Moore instead did a South Park-esque animation for the film which implied that it was done by Parker and Stone who of course were furious. They asked him to remove the animation and their interview but Moore refused.
I think Nader dislikes Moore because he got to know him very well over the years. I'm not sure about this but I think Moore used to work for him.
I mean I dont think Moore is as bad as a Hannity or an O'Reilly or a Buchanan but I dont like the man.
Matt
Who would have thought that Damaso Marte would be the most reliable bridge to Mo? Its a funny old game aint it?
Oh, I do remember the scene in Fahrenheit 911 in which he used a really rather hapless soul to represent the kind of people who were signing up. I see your point, though I'm sure we would come out in slightly or even very different places about recruitment tactics. Probably shouldn't get into it. I know we at least agree on dolphins.
That's quite underhanded about the psuedo South Park cartoon. It must feel like a sort of extra betrayal to be done over by Michael Moore if you had thought till then that you were all on the same side.
I didn't know this about Moore, but I did have occasion to meet Cindy Sheehan a few years ago, and she was not what I expected. God knows I have never suffered a loss like she has, and I can't imagine how it affects you (aside from profoundly of course), but I did not expect to meet someone who would act like a celebrity. It may very well have been the only way she could deal with the situation, but it was surprising.
Seana
I dont understand why Moore did that (the faux South Park cartoon). It really doesnt seem smart to piss off Trey Parker and Matt Stone, I mean they have big platform on their TV show and they're notoriously merciless. Unless he just gets off on the attention itself which I think might be the case.
Matt
Poor Cindy Sheehan. I feel terrible for her. My brother's on the last two weeks of his Afghan tour and we're all biting our nails... But even so she probably should have kept her mouth shut, the more you hear from her, the more you think, dear oh dear...
It sounds like he feels entitled. For the sake of his Art. Let the chips fall where they may and all that. It's a dangerous position to take.
I don't really know what any of us would do if thrust into the limelight, a la Cindy Sheehan, even if we'd half courted it. It seems to often have a very distorting effect on personality. I know I'd probably be impossible. Not in the demanding too much way,but in the lashing out at people way if I hadn't gotten a good night's sleep. I mean, I do it now...
Two weeks, huh? That sounds excruciating. Best of luck to him.
Looks like I'll be paying for dinner, mate.
I've never seen Michael Moore's movies, but he did do a reading at a bookstore here, a Borders, I think, despite that store's discouraging its workers' unionization efforts.
================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Way back in the beginning Michael Moore used to say stuff like, 'I'm not really a filmmaker, I'm only doing this till someone else comes along to talk about these issues,' and that kind of thing. He briefly had a TV show called TV Nation that had some very good correspondants, but since then he did become the star.
Maybe there was a point where he thought he could use his celebrity to get access to stories and to an audience but it really seems like he passed that point and now he uses his celebrity the same way everyone else does in Hollywood - to crush the competition.
There are other very good documentary filmmakers taking on some of the same topics that Michael Moore does but they aren't getting anywhere near the exposure. Movies like The Corporation for example.
Moore has changed the 'entertainment expectation' of documentaries. Now,I suppose he could just say, well those other documentary filmmakers just need to learn to be more entertaining, and there's some truth in that, but if the real goal was getting the word out about the issue, it's not really helping.
I thought 'The Corporation' was fantastic, and am a little chagrined to report it did not end up mobilizing me to bring down corporate America. That's no reflection on the movie, though, only on me.
It was well received in Santa Cruz, perhaps needless to say.
Peter
Game 5 is a lock for Philly and then its a crap shoot. The Phils too two out of three at the stadium earlier in the year.
When I was in the mighty Local 1199 I got a few Michael Moore stories, some good, some not so good.
John
I liked TV Nation a lot. Louis Theroux was on there. His segments were great. And his stuff on the BBC is generally of high quality. (Louis's I mean).
I suppose I should also have mentioned Errol Morris who is a true artist.
Seana
I think we need the reverse right now. We need some smart corporations that know how to make things that Chinese people want.
Segways arent going to be it.
My understanding is that the problem with corporations is granting them a fictitious personhood without being able to hold them accountable on any of the levels you would an actual human being.
And it would be a human being working for a corporation or outside one that came up with the thing that all Chinese people want. Of course, that human being would probably be Chinese. In China.
To play devil's advocate: It’s corporations in the US that are working to eliminate illiteracy, paying for most of our health care and dental care (for employees, their families, and life partners), funding most of the research, supporting the arts, and providing most of the jobs.
The mean, old corporations of the past still exist, of course, but if you look at the 500 best places to work in the US year after year, very few have unions (or union thugs).
I don't doubt that they can be good places to work, at least while they're on the upswing. And I don't doubt that they do good, though they have also done a lot of ill. It's the rights they havve as a legal entity that seem to be a problem.
It's been awhile since I've seen the movie, but here is a link to the synopsis, if anyone is interested.
Oops. Not sure if this is working, but here it is again The Corporation.
My problem with Michael Moore is how he cherry picks facts and alters interviews to support his agenda. That doesn't help with the cause at all, it hurts.
A friend of mine who works in Hollywood tells me he gets insight into a person’s character by the way he/she treats the service industry. He says Michael Moore treats waiters, waitresses, etc., like absolute crap. I’m with Ralph Nader on this one – Michael Moore has a dark soul… and a rancid heart. I’m SO over him.
That's really rather shocking. It's like he's learned nothing from his own work. And why does no one ever learn that treating the clerks and servers badly really never is to your long term advantage?
Adrian -
The wife has this on the Netflix queue, but I may have to pass. Sounds like this would only aggravate me.
BTW - NICE reference to Lawrence of Arabia.
Seana
I wish we could think of something though. Chinese GDP growth is staggering and for all its flaws America is a much more benign superpower than China ever will be. If the twenty first century turns out to be the Chinese century we're all in trouble.
Holden
I dont think I really believe that story. Moore may be a jerk but he's not stupid. Everybody that Hollywood is a small town and if you mistreat wait staff or stiff people on tips it gets out. I think Moore is far too canny to be so unsubtle.
Saying that though I may be wrong. I was shocked to hear Christian Bale's rant to the lighting guy on T4 and then there was David O'Russell's horrible rant on I Heart Huckabees.
Brian
Bizarre coincidence. I was flipping last night about 11 and found L of A. I ended up going to bed about three.
I'm in total agreement with you about China. Unfortunately, I have no solutions.
Adrian, I can’t substantiate the Moore story and shouldn’t have repeated it since I haven’t witnessed anything like that myself.
How 'bout those Phillies? ;->
Good save, Holden. I am pretty sure that Adrian and practically anyone else who checks in here will be completely distracted by that sports reference. Well, not Marco, maybe.
And of course, not me.
I don't know if The Cove is such a good documentary, squire. Yes, it's heart-breaking, but the dolphin issue is one of supply-and-demand, and while the filmmakers concentrated on the supply of dolphins to seaquariums, etc (and the slaughter of those not required), it didn't point the finger at those who create the demand - presumably because they'd be pointing the finger at their potential audience. The central issue of the movie is Richard O'Barry's Damascene moment - yes, he's doing his best to stick his finger in the dam now, but he's the guy who helped open the floodgates (if you'll pardon the mangled metaphor). Nail the demand and you'll cut off the oxygen to the supply ...
Also - I didn't buy the Ocean's 11 bit. The locals weren't exactly friendly, but they weren't exactly vicious either. Take the cops' interview of O'Barry - hardly the rubber-hose treatment, now, was it?
The Cove has more in common with The Blair Witch Project than it has with a good documentary. Hand-held cameras and real-life footage do not a documentary make. Maybe the makers weren't as guilty of spin as Michael Moore can be (and usually is) but they were guilty of spin. That their hearts were in the right place is no excuse.
The point about the slaughtering of cattle is a good one too, even if they're nowhere as intelligent as dolphins. Pigs are pretty intelligent animals, though ...
Cheers, Dec
Dec
1. I thought the underwater photograpy was extraordinarily beautiful.
2. Thats what makes the tragedy all the deeper because our hero actually caused the problem in the first place.
3. The cow analogy doesnt work because these are wild animals.
4. I agree about intelligence. They way we treat pigs is a disgrace. Pigs are affectionate and smart and should be treated much much better.
The issue about demand is a real point, though. Not the guy who does see the light about all this--it's changing the mindset of all the rest of us that's the challenge.
Despite all of the talk about being scared to see the film; here is a second chance for all of you to view it. "The Cove" is playing at the Red Vic theater in San Francisco from November 15th - 17th. Please man up, swallow the fear, belly the pain, and see the film for the dolphins sake and for the people of Japan. Ignorance will not bring bliss to those with mercury poising.
The movie is also a leading contender for the Oscar category of best documentary.
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