Jonathan Crocker

Horror-thriller, gripping expose and devastating agitprop, The Cove takes us to “a little town with a big secret”. Every year in a pretty cove in the Japanese fishing heartland of Taiji, thousands of terrified dolphins are driven in from open water and savagely massacred. We know this thanks to activist dolphin-whisperer Ric O’Barry, who trained these near-sentient mammals for cult ‘60s TV show Flipper – until one of them died in his arms after a tortured existence.Having dedicated his life since to freeing captive dolphins everywhere, O’Barry leads a team of champion free-divers and ILM experts on a thrilling Ocean’s Eleven-style raid, taking on a murderous government cover-up and local fishermen to plant hidden cameras inside the cove. What happens next in this unmissable documentary will wrench and rouse you like no other film this year.

RATING: ★★★★★

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