Title: Blackfish

Opens: July 19, 2013

PETA’s president Ingrid Newkirk’s philosophy of animal welfare can be summed up in one sentence: animals should not be used by human beings for food, experimentation, or entertainment. Entertainment? You mean you want to close down Ringling Bros. circus which provides joy for our youth who are riveted by elephant tricks and lions being tamed? Yes, exactly, and PETA has provided videos on its site to show the punishments meted out to elephants to get them to do our bidding. One wonders why Ms. Newkirk was not interviewed for “Blackfish,” Gabriela Cowperwaithe’s documentary about the cruelties involved in training orca whales. In order to delight crowds at Sea World locations at Orlando and San Diego and through consultations with folks who put on shows in Spain’s Tenerife island, these big mammals are captured from the wild and must suffer the indignities and frustrations of beings put into concrete pools, giving them little room to swim as is natural to them and depriving them of stimulation when the lights are out and audiences go home. Think of canaries and parrots in cages or goldfish in little bowls who must likewise put up with abbreviated movement and who, like whales in captivity, do not live out their natural life spans.

Orca whales can live to 100 or at least maintain the longevity of human beings, but at Sea World they’re lucky to live for 35 years. And those 35 years are not happy ones, notwithstanding what audiences see as these intelligent beings nuzzle with human trainers who swim with them and reward them with fish when they do their bidding. Not so nice is that when these whales resist sucking up to people, they lose their rewards: they do without their suppers, becomes mighty frustrated, and take out their pent-up rage against the very people who have loved and worked with them.

This single-issue documentary uses video footage including underwater shots showing trainers getting on the whales’ level many feet below the surface and, together with interviews from past trainers at Sea World (nobody from the entertainment corporation’s directors agreed to be interviewed), director Cowperwaithe makes a superb case for closing down Sea World and presumably all similar ventures around the globe.

The star performer and chief individual responsible for indicting Sea World is Tilikum, a twelve thousand pound killer whale—literally in this case—as Tilikum has already killed three trainers. The most publicized is that of Dawn Brancheau who was dragged down by either her arm or her pony tail by the creature with which she had bonded, while the corporation has the chutzpah of blaming her for the tragedy, one which was actually caused by the whale’s frustration at being confined. Note that orcas have never been known to attack people in the wild.

This Tilikum was netted in 1983 and at a Canadian park received abusive training by people while at the same time was attacked by female whales doing what’s natural in the matriarchal society. Keltie Byrne, the first victim of Tilikum, had slipped into the tank, was attacked by three frustrated whales, and drowned. Instead of releasing Tilikum into the wild or being euthanized as were bears and dogs that have attacked people, Tilikum was sent to Orland’s Sea World where in at least one instance a young orca was separated from its mother and took to screaming day and night. You can’t really blame the adults for wanting revenge against human beings, and as videos indicate, many have been dragged down into the water and have barely survived their ordeals.

Jeff Beal’s music does not try to replicate John Williams’ score for “Jaws,” since Spielberg’s drama indicts the sharks for attacking people in the wild while “Blackfish” indicates that whales in the wild do not attack people. If you want to draw broad conclusions from this nicely shot doc, you’d be incensed at the dairy industry as well for keeping cows pregnant, while taking away their calves and sending the calves to the veal industry. But even without trying to see similarities in our cruel treatment of animals of various species, “Blackfish” makes the point we’re better off frustrating the small fry by closing down these sea parks than by torturing intelligent animals who want only to be out of the grasp of money-grubbing corporations.

Unrated. 83 minutes © 2013 by Harvey Karten, Member, New York Film Critics Online

Overall – B+