Blackfish (Gabriela Cowperthwaite)

[dreamdead]

IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2545118/)

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nj-w3IuAL0U/UalCqEtdfgI/AAAAAAAAAeg/hu-oEnLXVFM/s1600/blackfishmovie.JPG

[dreamdead]

Found this really powerful. Its argumentative perspective--that Sea World profits from a lack of information given to their audience--might shape the material a little too much, but attention is paid to a counter-perspective, although Sea World itself didn't comment.

A lot of the scenes with the OSHA researcher are breathtakingly beautiful. And the orcas are equally majestic. And this might be the only chance many of us have to see a killer whale money shot.

I guess I can see how it might be perfunctorily shot, but I found the detailing of the whales and their behavior in the wild to be informative, and thought the way it details the Sea World trial interesting. As Winston notes, the shot of the one animal trainer being repeatedly pulled underwater terrifying.

[Ezee E]

This isn't just a scary documentary about the captivity of whales. It's also quite scary about the trust that the trainers (all of which no longer work for SeaWorld) trust the corporation that they work for.

Also, it's neat when we see a documentary that actually accomplishes something. SeaWorld is having a huge decrease in ticket sales, and their stock is now below the initial IPO that was offered back in April. With the documentary about to premiere on CNN, I'm curious if things will continue.

Does it still have Oscar chances?

[Kurosawa Fan]

Doesn't running it on television take it out of contention for an Oscar? I thought I remember that being the case for a film a couple years ago.

[Ezee E]

Doesn't running it on television take it out of contention for an Oscar? I thought I remember that being the case for a film a couple years ago.

That's what I thought.

The Oscar Bloggers say it's still eligible, but they know as much as we do...

[Kurosawa Fan]

I think the last one we talked about was Dear Zachary, which ran on a cable network. Could be wrong though.

[Kurosawa Fan]

This was certainly an unapologetic hatchet job aimed at Sea World, and it's well constructed to elicit maximum emotional response from the viewer. It is as biased as they come, and that's fine, because their aim is a noble one that's hard to argue for the other side. However, that's also the biggest fault. Once we get past the initial indignation of the kidnapping of the baby orcas, and the fear watching several trainers have close calls, there's nowhere interesting for this documentary to go. Perhaps it's because I knew about Dawn Brancheau prior to the film, but the second half just sort of went through the motions, and as the film concluded, rather than having to collect myself or mentally process what I had just seen, I just shut it off and moved on to something else. Because this is such a well known issue, and because it feels so black and white for me, I found little value in the experience beyond the history and the novelty of being exposed to the archival footage. There's no real lasting impact that is the signature of every great documentary.

[Kurosawa Fan]

E, are you aware that you voted Nay on this? Seems as though your score and comments pointed toward a pretty strong yay.

[Ezee E]

E, are you aware that you voted Nay on this? Seems as though your score and comments pointed toward a pretty strong yay.

Yeah. It should be a yay. I can't change it though.

[Gizmo]

Netflix'd this this morning. I was in basic during all this in early 2010, so I did not even know that all this was going down between trainers dying and SeaWorld being sued. It was all fresh and poignant to me. It was pretty one-sided, but a good documentary nonetheless.

[Skitch]

This was incredible, infuriating, sad, and ecstatic. Very well made. I'm so glad this hasn't been suppressed. I've already got about half a dozen people to watch it who don't normally watch documentaries, and they all were really moved. I hope this film crushes Sea World.

KF, I didn't really think it was one-sided? What is the other side? Were you referring to Sea World responding in some manner? I'm not trying to sound hostile, I'm just curious. :)

Also, this was selected to open last year's Sarasota film festival. There was a Q&A with director and most of the former trainers afterward. The stories they told that they cut out of the film (because they were worried about being sued) were ten times worse than anything in the film (according to my friend who was there).

[Dukefrukem]

How can you be sued for telling the truth?

[Skitch]

How can you be sued for telling the truth?

I don't know, I said the same thing, but there must have been some sort of libel/slander issue in play. If you look at the film, they strictly talk about issues that were undeniable, caught on tape, or were in the news (death/injury of trainers).

[number8]

This was certainly an unapologetic hatchet job aimed at Sea World, and it's well constructed to elicit maximum emotional response from the viewer. It is as biased as they come, and that's fine, because their aim is a noble one that's hard to argue for the other side. However, that's also the biggest fault. Once we get past the initial indignation of the kidnapping of the baby orcas, and the fear watching several trainers have close calls, there's nowhere interesting for this documentary to go. Perhaps it's because I knew about Dawn Brancheau prior to the film, but the second half just sort of went through the motions, and as the film concluded, rather than having to collect myself or mentally process what I had just seen, I just shut it off and moved on to something else. Because this is such a well known issue, and because it feels so black and white for me, I found little value in the experience beyond the history and the novelty of being exposed to the archival footage. There's no real lasting impact that is the signature of every great documentary.

Copy paste.

[number8]

How can you be sued for telling the truth?

I assume the stories that were cut out were hearsay or things they weren't able to prove as facts, unlike the stuff in the film which are either opinions or backed up by archival footage.

[number8]

SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. shares rose after “Blackfish,” a documentary critical of the theme-park operator’s treatment of killer whales, didn’t receive an Oscar nomination today.

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