from vkpr

I can’t say this was an easy film to make. There were nightmares, autopsy reports, sobbing interviewees, and miserable animals. But as I moved forward, I knew that in telling the story I was telling the truth. And in telling the truth, I had to show this billion dollar industry for what it was.

-Gabriela Cowperthwaite, director, Blackfish

A mesmerizing psychological thriller with a killer whale at its centre, Blackfish is the first film since Grizzly Man to show how nature can get revenge on humans when pushed to its limits.

In the summer of 2010, Dawn Brancheau, a reknowned SeaWorld trainer, was killed by Tilikum, a 12,000-pound orca. Filmmaker Gabriela Cowperthwaite remembered fragments: something about a ponytail, something about her slipping and falling, something about how this almost never happens because in these parks, the animals are happy and the trainers are safe.

But something wasn’t right. Why would a highly intelligent animal attack its trainer – in effect, bite the hand that feeds it? Cowperthwaite set out to understand this incident not as an activist, but as a mother (who had just taken her kids to SeaWorld) and as a documentary filmmaker (who can’t let sleeping dogs lie).

Thus began a journey of shock and discovery.

Many of us have experienced the excitement and awe of watching 8,000-pound orcas, or “killer whales,” soar out of the water and fly through the air at sea parks, as if in perfect harmony with their trainers. Yet, in our contemporary lore this mighty black-and-white mammal is like a two-faced Janus—beloved as a majestic, friendly giant yet infamous for its capacity to kill viciously.

Blackfish unravels the complexities of this dichotomy, employing the story of notorious performing whale Tilikum, who—unlike any orca in the wild—has taken the lives of three trainers while in captivity. So what exactly went wrong?

Shocking, never-before-seen footage and riveting interviews with trainers and experts manifest the orca’s extraordinary nature, the species’ cruel treatment in captivity over the last four decades, and the growing disillusionment of workers who were misled and endangered by the highly profitable sea-park industry.

This emotionally wrenching, tautly structured story challenges us to consider our relationship to nature and reveals how little we humans have learned from these highly intelligent and enormously sentient fellow mammals.

To view trailer and see FILMbutton review on Blackfish please click here

Opens in Toronto at TIFF Bell Lightbox on Friday, July 19 & Vancouver on Friday, August 2, 2013