Blackfish (2013)

[Plain Old Tele]

Discuss.

[baumer]

I haven't had a chance to see this as it is not playing in my city, but I will and I can't wait.  We need more documentaries like this one.

[RobinHood26]

I haven't had a chance to see this as it is not playing in my city, but I will and I can't wait.  We need more documentaries like this one.

Agreed, im excited to see it although I have read many things about the film and it seems to lie half the time and twist many facts. 

[JonnyCraig]

Agreed, im excited to see it although I have read many things about the film and it seems to lie half the time and twist many facts. 

Most of the claims of inaccuracy are coming from SeaWorld itself, expected since they are depicted negatively (and for good reason.) The film is so gut-wrenching at times that people may think there is manipulation going on, but unfortunately, there is actually very little of that here. Much of the film's claims against SeaWorld has been written about previously in great detail, and the film's point is made through testimony from multiple SeaWorld trainers, rather than the filmmakers themselves. Watch the film for yourself.

 

If you have some background on the story, it feels like seeing stuff you already know but the film still packs an emotional punch and the footage of various incidents involving the whales is incredibly frightening at times. There is one particular scene which terrified me, showing a trainer getting pulled underwater repeatedly by a whale (and only being able to survive due to his prior experience as a diver.) 

In terms of recent documentaries, this isn't as great as The Act of Killing but it's still up there.

Edited August 18, 2013 by CarlosDanger

[baumer]

Why would you think the facts are twisted Jay?  Seaworld kidnaps whales and they subjugate them and make them perform stupid tricks for people.  All for profit.  Where is the distortion there?  Maybe if a park from China kidnapped your kid and took him away from you and made him live his life performing stupid tricks, you'd be more receptive to it.  But because it's "just a whale" people don't care.  That's why films like this are important.

[RobinHood26]

Why would you think the facts are twisted Jay?  Seaworld kidnaps whales and they subjugate them and make them perform stupid tricks for people.  All for profit.  Where is the distortion there?  Maybe if a park from China kidnapped your kid and took him away from you and made him live his life performing stupid tricks, you'd be more receptive to it.  But because it's "just a whale" people don't care.  That's why films like this are important.

 

See there you go. Thats the biggest problem.

 

Seaworld hasn't captured a Whale in the wild since the mid 1970's!!!!! thats 40 years....

 

Before Orcas were captured, they were considered nuisance animals. They were treated like sharks, fisherman wanted to catch them, they were brutally killed and mis understood. They would close beaches if they spotted them nearby. Many of the first whales captured actually had bullet holes in them from being hunted. Imagine today if people watched someone shoot an orca or hunt it they would be outraged! Why? because our perspective have changed. 

 

Seaworld almost entirely changed the perspective of animal. Children and families got to see they weren't ruthless killers, you got to see there emotions and compassion. Its almost laughable because everyone fighting and making this movie would not have loved these animals without Seaworld.

 

Out of almost 30 whales at Seaworld only 5 whales had been captured in the wild. Only 3 were captured by Seaworld again all in the 70's. The other 2, including Tilikum (captured in 1983) were captured by other parks, and Seaworld saved them and had had better facilities. 

 

NO PARK captures wild Orca anymore, its bad press, its unethical, and doesn't make sense financially. Seaworld Breads there own whales and raises them. I have no problem with a very small group of whales that are raised by Seaworld not captured in the wild in parks like this, because they raise awareness and teach kids form a young age about how beautiful animal life is.  

 

People also say that Killer Whales live twice as long in the wild. It may be true but its not confirmed yet, we have no idea how old they live in the wild yet because we haven't studied them. They supposedly live 60 years in the wild. At Sea World the oldest whale is 47 and still going strong, so if she (corky) makes it to 60 and so do many younger whales, then it could be proven false. 

 

They also make claims like trainers didn't know how dangerous Tilikum was.... well Tilikum had "killed" 2 other people in the 90's and that information is and was publicly available. Also Tilikum had a no swim rule. He was the 1 and only whale at all Seaworld parks that a trainer was not allowed to go in the water. The idea that a trainer who works with whales not knowing this and or their behavior is a joke, I mean come on. 

 

With all this said I LOVE Orca's. They are my favorite animals in the world and have been since I was 5. Ive taken many Marine Bio Classes and my uncle is a Marine Biologist. I have researched and learned about every single whale in captivity around the world. I could go on for hours about Orcas. Seaworld is documented as the number 1 researcher for Killer Whales, most the stuff we know about them are from Seaworld.  

 

Im not saying that this film doesn't have any good points, im just saying be open minded. I don't want whales to be mistreated, tortured, or captured at all. I don't believe that is happening though. 

Edited August 19, 2013 by Jay Salahi

[baumer]

Fair enough Jay.  

[baumer]

Heading to it now.  I'm nervous....hope it's not too tough to watch.

[baumer]

Finally saw it and it is everything I hoped it would be.  Keeping whales in captivity is wrong and it illustrates it perfectly here.  I commend the film makers for making this and I really hope it wins best documentary this year.

 

9/10

Edited January 5, 2014 by Christmas baumer

[baumer]

Anyone watch this when it was on CNN?

[Jack Nevada]

One of the ten best movies I saw this year. It's incredibly potent without using shock tactics. I will never take my kids to one of these parks after seeing Blackfish. 

 

4/4

[Michael Gary Scott]

One of the best films of the year. I feel so bad for those trainers that lost there lives. Have never and will never go to sea world. 5/5.

[Ezen Baklattan]

It's a chilling documentary that doesn't indulge in shock tactics. There was some high degrees of emotion, but this is simply a story you can't discuss without it. Highly recommended.

 

8/10

[baumer]

You know, saying that places like Seaworld have done more good for sea life than bad is like saying that The Nazi's did more good than bad.  The fact is, whales, dolphins and other marine animals should not be in captivity.  It's akin to stealing your child, enslaving them and then justifying it by saying that they eat well.

[RobinHood26]

Interesting article. http://micechat.com/53915-blackfish-exposed/

[Hiccup]

Amazing film. 

 

5/5

[mattmav45]

It's not one of those documentaries that will wow you with creativity or artistic flair, but rather its strength lies in the information it wishes to share, and how it shares that information.  In all honesty, the SeaWorld stuff, while interesting, was not very surprising to me.  Just another big corporation doing everything it can to make mega-profits and do everything in their power to protect its interests/investments.

 

The most interesting aspect of the film to me was that humans still have not grasped the idea that some things are best left in the wild.  These attacks occurred over a substantial amount of time, and not just at Seaworld.  I feel like a great amount of human nature was on display in this film.  Not only are humans inevitably stubborn (particularly when money is involved), but they also tend to overvalue their own intelligence, especially when it comes to their knowledge of handling and understanding wild creatures.  It was quite apparent to me while watching the film that nobody really knew why the whales were behaving in a particular manner.

 

Interesting things to mull over.  Good stuff.

[DeeCee]

Interesting article. http://micechat.com/53915-blackfish-exposed/

Have you seen the movie?

[lab276]

I was in tears.

It feels wrong to draw lines between intelligent creatures and others, but it seems like there's a point where animals that if for no other reason should not be in captivity because just of their intelligence. Of course there a plenty of reasons for not keeping orcas apart from that, space for one thing, socialisation with other orcas, having proper sea water, the right kind of food. But it's basically a whole other level of abuse with intelligent creatures because they must understand on some level that they are in captivity and not where they should be.

A

Edited July 9, 2015 by lab276