Groupthink doesn’t live here, critical thought does.
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Perhaps the most shocking thing about documentarian Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s straightforward piece of editorial filmic journalism is that its disclosures come as a surprise. Common sense would seem to dictate that the idea of taking enormous orca whales out of the wild, and putting them in captivity, is an utterly insane practice.
To exaggerate the terrible abuse of nature by “training” whales to perform with human beings is beyond the pale. As such, “Blackfish” is not a film that most people need to see, because they already sense the horrible atrocities being committed by Sea World in the name of outlandish profits.
By the same token, “Blackfish” is an essential documentary because it gives thoughtful fact-based voice to the desperate plight of magnificent creatures whose treatment by Sea World and similar companies have led to the deaths of many “trainers” working under an illusion of safety.
“Blackfish” is not an “activist” documentary per se, although it has been championed as such by outraged audiences not privy to the level of chicanery being committed against the public and against orcas.
It seems likely that within a decade of the film’s release that Sea World will be a thing of the past, thanks in great part to the film’s effect of informing the world about something that goes against nature’s laws. Perhaps the documentary form does have the potential to effect sweeping social change. Only time will tell.
