A PRAYER FOR THE WILD AT HEART KEPT IN CAGES

One of my favorite things about Sundance is that it's a place where dreams come true!  So many independent filmmakers would not be able to get their film seen and picked up by a major distributer if Independent Film Festivals didn't exist.   It is also a place that can shatter that dream as well if the film is not successful.  I had a great festival this year but it also completely shattered my life long dream. 

If I could be anything in this whole world I would have been a Whale Trainer at Sea World.  It consist of my 2 favorite things: Swimming and Orcas.  I've been to Sea World once with Carol, Ron and Cookie about 8 years ago.  (I don't remember the exact date).  It was awesome!  We sat in the front row of the whale show and got drenched!  It was magical and just solidified the fact that someday I was going to be a whale trainer.

In August 2006 Lanie, Kelly and I went to Hawaii!  Lanie and I swam with wild Spinner Dolphins.  This experience was even more magical than Sea World because I was swimming in the natural habitat in the middle of 200 dolphins.  And since I'm a Pisces, which means I'm part fish (ha ha),  it was like I was home!  There really aren't words that can describe this experience.  We saw a baby dolphin that was as big as a 2 litter bottle of soda!  It was so cute, just amazing.  One dolphin in particular stood out because he was totally showing off and doing all sorts of tricks around us.  He was cracking me up.  I posted a few pictures below.


Then Sundance 2009 rolls around and I watch the World Documentary of THE COVE.
The Cove is about the sleepy little town of Taiji Japan and the horrible dolphin slaughter that goes on there.  Ric O'Barry, the ever famous dolphin trainer of FLIPPER (the TV show that started in the 60's I believe.),  has exposed this deep dark secret that Taiji has been keeping.  Ric spent the first 10 years of his life contributing to the capture and training of dolphins for our entertainment and has spent the last 30 years as an activist to release the dolphins and to undo what he created.  

In Taiji they go out in boats and stick huge metal rods in the water. They bang on the rods when a pod of dolphins is swimming by.  Dolphins are so sensitive to the loud noises that it scares them and they are herded into this cove.  That's where  Dolphin Trainers from all over take their pick of the most perfect dolphin they find.  They are picked through in a very brutal and inhumane process.  The dolphins who are not picked as show dolphins are left in the cove over night and in the morning they are slaughtered.  They get $6,000 for a dead dolphin and $100,000 - $150,000, for a live dolphin!   Had I know this is how they pick show dolphins I would have never gone to Sea World.  I've never cried so much in a documentary before.  After they slaughter all the dolphins the cove is bright red.  So much blood.  In the movie there is this guy in the blood water swimming around the dead dolphins.  And these dolphin killers just laugh about it.  I hate them.

And it's not that the Aquariums  are doing the killing.  It's the fact that they buy these show dolphins and we are funding them in the process.  Dolphins are very sensitive to sound.  The loud cheering of the crowds gives them extremely high anxiety.  They aren't having fun at all, they're scared.  They only get fed if they do tricks!  They don't even get fed live fish!  They get fed dead fish on ice!  They don't belong in a tank, they belong in the ocean.  I can't believe I went to Sea World and thought it was okay and that I wanted to train whales!  I look at those pictures of the Orcas and they look so sad.  I'm never going to an Aquarium again, not after knowing what I know now.  I also do not support the decision of anybody else who chooses to go to such places.  I really hope my brothers and sisters in California will no longer purchase year passes to Sea World.  Everyone should see this documentary.  I'll let you know when it goes world wide.
The Producers of The Cove were at the screening.  They answered some questions.

This is Ric O'Barry.  I got a chance to talk with him personally after the screening.  I asked him if I'd get arrested if I went to Taiji to protest.  He told me I probably wouldn't because it is a public park.  I told him I'd see him in September!  We chatted for a bit.  He looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.  If the stars align Lanie, Brittany, and I will be joining him in Taiji in October (Lanie has fall break from school then) to protest the Dolphin Slaughter in Taiji.  So I no longer want to train Orcas, I am now and activist against it.  A new dream for a new year I guess.

Please take the time to see some clips from  The Cove.  Be careful letting your kids watch some of these videos though.

"When a trout rising to a fly gets hooked on a line and finds himself unable to swim freely, he begins with a fight which results in struggles and splashes and sometimes an escape.  Often, of course, the situation is too tough for him.  

In the same way the human being struggles with his environment and with the hooks that catch him.  Sometimes he masters his difficulties; sometimes they are too much for him.  His struggles are all that the world sees and it naturally misunderstands them.  It is hard for a free fish to understand what is happening to a hooked one." -Karl A. Menninger- (from my favorite book THE CHOSEN)

Look for more positive Sundance picture blogs!