Film: Blackfish

A change to the advertised schedule! See, when I checked the IMDB ratings today, Blackfish had risen a point, so I decided to go see that instead.

The closest place it's showing is the Curzon Mayfair, so I went to see it there. This is unfortunate, because I keep forgetting how much I hate going there. The Tube is desperately crowded, but the crowds less friendly than, say, Piccadilly Circus, being less composed of tourists. At the cinema itself, I invariably have to buy my ticket at the bar, the box office being closed - and the staff must be the slowest of any cinema I've seen. Oh, and it's horrendously overpriced.

At least the seats are comfy. And my, am I glad I chose to go to this film this evening! It's a documentary about something I noticed vaguely in the press when it happened - the killing of a trainer at SeaWorld, by one of the whales. The film contains many interviews with ex-SeaWorld trainers, many beautiful shots of whales, and an interview with one guy who, I believe, is still at SeaWorld, and was the only one to defend them. SeaWorld themselves apparently repeatedly declined to be interviewed.

Two things stay with me. The first, and strongest, impression I have of the film is the beauty and majesty of these enormous creatures, drifting, floating, and spinning through the water. Particularly the open ocean, in the waters off Vancouver Island. Ah, beautiful part of the world..

The second impression I was left with was absolute disgust. SeaWorld came across as irresponsible and misleading. Tilikum, the subject of this documentary, is an orca responsible for the deaths of three people. Not only did SeaWorld hide this fact from its employees, and misrepresent the cause of the third death, but Tilikum continues to perform at SeaWorld, with trainers, to this day. The ex-trainers in the film explain that Tilikum, SeaWorld's most prolific stud, is too valuable to the company to have him retired. The courts have ordered SeaWorld to keep a barrier between whales and trainers at all times, but they are appealing. SeaWorld employees are shown in the film explaining how orcas live longer in captivity, when scientific studies have shown the opposite. SeaWorld employees have stated that the collapsed dorsal fins of male orcas represent no higher a proportion in captivity than in the wild, which is a fact again refuted by scientific research.

I know I will never, ever go to SeaWorld. This film, the love of the trainers for the whales, and their description of their treatment in captivity left me in tears. I am amazed that this company is allowed to continue in business.

Tomorrow, I'm booked to see Into the Abyss, a Werner Herzog documentary about a man convicted of a triple homicide, in the BFI. On Wednesday, I'm going to a preview of The Conjuring - it seems to have sold out in Notting Hill (well, you could book yesterday but not today), so I'm heading to Greenwich. Looks like it'll be worth it though!