Japanese get a chance to see dolphin hunt documentary
“The Cove” got its first screening in Japan the other day at the Tokyo International Film Festival. How did audiences react?
According to the AP, there were “mixed” reactions from Japanese viewers:
Junko Inoue, a resident of Saitama, north of Tokyo, said she found the final scene, where dozens of dolphins trapped in a hidden cove are speared by fishermen, turning the water blood red, “shocking.”
But she didn’t think the hunt should be stopped entirely. “There are a lot of cultural differences in people’s eating habits,” she said.
“Westerners say it’s OK to kill and eat cows, but not dolphins,” said Hiroshi Hatajima, a 42-year-old office worker from Tokyo. “That kind of special treatment isn’t going to register with a lot of Japanese. We have to eat animals to survive. It’s a cultural clash.”
The film, while well-made, “comes across as somewhat propaganda-like,” he said.
In an article about threats of legal action from the Taiji fisheries cooperative, the AFP also mentions some reactions from Japanese who attended the screening:
Comments in a question-and-answer session varied from revulsion at the graphic scenes of the dolphin slaughter in a secluded cove to a spirited defence of Japanese traditions and fishing and food habits.
“Although it’s a difficult issue as it involves fishermen’s jobs, it’s also difficult to argue that all Japanese traditions have to be maintained,” Makoto Iwahashi, a 19-year-old student, told AFP after watching the film. “I think if we find something wrong in our tradition, we should correct it.”
The Hollywood Reporter also has a brief description of the Q&A session that took place after the screening:
Local media questioned the filmmaker’s highlighting of the dolphin hunt while greater numbers of other animals are slaughtered around the globe.
Psiboyos responded by claiming the central message of the movie was the mercury levels of the dolphin meat, both as a health hazard to consumers, and as an indication of the poisoned state of the oceans.
Despite stating that the animal rights argument was “unwinnable, and leads only to stalemate,” he made a number of passionate pleas to stop the killing of the “sentient and intelligent” dolphins, and of whales, which Japan continues to hunt.
The makers of “The Cove” are hoping to find a Japanese distributor for the film. However, given the graphic content of the film and the fact that it was not much of a financial success in other countries, it is unlikely that it will be widely shown in theaters across Japan.
Related video: Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett traveled to Taiji a few days ago, finding that fishermen are still hunting certain types of dolphins. Locals were not pleased with the presence of cameras:
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