FOLIOby Lana Beads
When I fell upon an advance screening of the movie Blackfish I really wasn’t sure what I was getting into. As you watch the film, through the stories of past trainers and orca experts you get a glimpse into the complex mind of the killer whale. How can we really know what they are thinking? Little did we know, growing up going to sea-parks, we have been fed all sorts of misinformed facts about these actually, not-so-gentle creatures.
Admittedly, I’ve always had my suspicions about theme parks who parade giant animals on display for sometime now, but I was still shocked as I watched the latest documentary from Magnolia Pictures, Blackfish. Each year thousands of people file into theme parks to watch 8,000-pound killer whales perform mind-blowing tricks. Remember the big soaking splash at the end of the Shamu show?
One of the most fascinating things I walked away knowing about these great big orcas, is the fact that they not only have a large brains but they are some of the most intelligent creatures on our planet. They have a huge emotional center in the brain, far bigger than humans.
Blackfish follows the story of Tilikum, one of Sea World’s oldest & largest killer whales. He has fathered hundreds of orcas used in the sea-park entertainment industry. He has also killed humans, not once but thrice, including Sea World trainer Dawn Brancheau in 2010.
“I have no way of knowing what the whale had in mind,” Richard Ellis, a marine conservationist at the American Museum of Natural History, told The Associated Press. “But I can tell you that killer whales, because they’re supposed to be so intelligent, don’t do things accidentally. This was not an insane, uncontrollable act. This was premeditated. And the whale, for whatever whale reasons, did this intentionally.”
Most of these trainers are hired on by places like Sea World, paid $7.50 an hour and thinking they have their dream job. But after working with the animals, the subjects in Blackfish tell riveting stories about their interactions with the whales, most of them ultimately deciding what was going on was very wrong. Many knew that the decision-makers did not have good intentions but stayed because they felt compelled to stick around for the animals.
In many of the interviews you can see that they had no idea how dangerous these creatures were while they were working with them, and with reason. Do you know how much Sea World has paid for their darling captivated orcas? Enough to fudge facts to pretty much all of their clientele and, more notably, to all of their very own trainers. They couldn’t do anything, they were being lied to, their deathly stories being spun to the media.
For years they have covered up incidents and falsely blamed the trainers for incidents caused by frustrated orcas. All in the name of saving the orca’s image. But is it really the image of killer whale that needs to be redeemed? Blackfish really does unveil the bigger image. It’s not the whales you need to watch out for, it’s the sea-park industry captivating them all in the name of entertainment.
In all honesty, my intention with this review was really not to sound preachy but it is however, tough to deny these stories after watching Blackfish. The imagery really sticks with you. In fact, I was shocked to see how many of these terrible events were actually caught on film & that Blackfish was able to include them.
With the rise of movie streaming services such as Netflix, documentaries are getting more play than ever, many of them providing to be key tools in activism. Blackfish fits right in that category, but really does tell the story in an interesting and captivating way. The film is poignant and the story well told. Don’t wait to catch this one on Netflix though, head to SunRay Cinema in 5 Points where Blackfish will be playing all this week.
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