'The Cove' gets mixed reaction from Japanese audience
‘The Cove,’’ a U.S. investigative documentary about dolphin hunting in Wakayama Prefecture, made its debut in Japan on Wednesday, with the movie’s director describing the work as a ‘‘love letter’’ to Japanese people informing them of the adverse health effects from eating dolphin meat.
The film, which has prompted criticism of dolphin hunting in the western Japanese town of Taiji following screenings in countries such as the United States and Australia, was shown as part of the lineup of the 22nd Tokyo International Film Festival.
Director Louis Psihoyos flew into Tokyo for the festival despite worries that he might be arrested on trespassing charges from making “The Cove.” Police have repeatedly questioned the secret shooting of key footage in the documentary.
The fishermen have blocked access to the cove with barbed wire and fences, and Psihoyos was unable to get permission to access it. So he and his film team secretly broke into the restricted area-which is in a national park-at night to set up cameras that capture the slaughter.
“It’s very courageous of the Tokyo film festival to show this film,” said Psihoyos. “I’d also like to thank the Japanese government for not arresting me when I came in. I was pretty nervous yesterday, and I’m still a little nervous about getting out.”
Psihoyos said he felt it was important to come to Japan for the screening and “not to stay safe in America.”
After the screening, Psihoyos appeared on stage for a question-and-answer session and emphasized that the movie was more about protecting human rights rather than arguing for animal protection.
‘‘It’s very difficult to argue animal rights because every culture abuses animals, you know, by the use of animals for food, for entertainment, for apparel,’’ Psihoyos said. ‘‘It’s everyone’s human right to eat healthy food.’’
Noting that some Japanese media have been saying that ‘‘The Cove’’ is bashing Japanese people, he said, ‘‘To me, it’s a love letter. I’m giving you the information your government won’t give you.’’
The movie shows the pains a special team put together by Psihoyos goes through to film the killing of dolphins by local fishermen in a hidden cove in the whaling town of Taiji, the main source of dolphins used for entertainment around the world and one of some regional areas in Japan where dolphin meat has traditionally been consumed.
The team includes Richard O’Barry, known for training the dolphins used in the U.S. TV series ‘‘Flipper’’ and later becoming an activist to free dolphins from captivity, and experts in diving, event production and clandestine operations.
In addition to bringing to light the dolphin killings that take place in the cove, the film also highlights health risks to Japanese people who eat dolphin meat contaminated with high levels of mercury.
‘‘A bottlenose dolphin can have anywhere from five to 5,000 times more mercury than allowed by Japanese law,’’ said Psihoyos, a former National Geographic photographer.
‘‘It’s the tragic irony of this movie that the only way that we can save the dolphin now is to prove that we’ve made its environment so toxic that we can’t eat them,’’ he said.
Organizers at the Tokyo film festival clearly wanted to distance themselves from the film. A disclaimer stating that the festival had nothing to do with the production of “The Cove” ran at the start of the screening, and festival officials prevented journalists from interviewing viewers, herding them off the premises of the event in Roppongi Hills.
Japanese people who watched the movie showed mixed reactions, with some calling afterwards for a halt to the dolphin hunting and others raising questions about some of the ways the film was made.
‘‘It’s a movie that takes up a difficult issue,’’ said Mai Miyashita, a 32-year-old housewife living in Tokyo. ‘‘I can only say that dolphin hunting should be stopped immediately...although I do not think it will be easy because the livelihood of people in Taiji depends on it.’’
Rikako Yamane, a 21-year-old university student from Tokyo, said she was shocked to see footage of dolphins being killed by fishermen, but added that she felt the movie was lacking in the presentation of objective data as well as the voices of people in Taiji.
Tempei Miyaji, 26, a university student who lives in Germany, expressed concern that the scene of the dolphin killing was taken covertly.
‘‘I cannot deny that (the movie) is evocative, but there may be some parts that are exaggerated,’’ Miyaji said. ‘‘It would have been good if it had included what local people have to say and become something that would lead toward a resolution through talks.’’
Junko Inoue, a resident of Saitama, 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.
On the possibility of releasing ‘‘The Cove’’ in Japan, Psihoyos said negotiations are under way ‘‘with a couple of distributors,’’ adding that any profits made from showing it in the country would be offered to the fishermen in Taiji if they agree to stop dolphin hunting.
The movie was screened only once for the general public during the ongoing Tokyo International Film Festival.
At a press briefing following the screening, Psihoyos praised the film festival for its ‘‘courageous act’’ to show the film, but noted that the move was made possible due to the change in government in Japan that ousted the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
‘‘Three months ago, it would have been impossible to show this film. The LDP...was an oligarchy and the outgoing powers did not want this film shown,’’ he said without further elaboration.
The Democratic Party of Japan scored a landslide victory over the LDP in the Aug 30 general election, and a DPJ-led government was launched Sept 16-the same day the lineup for this year’s film festival was announced.
At the time, film festival organizers said ‘‘The Cove’’ has been added to the lineup at the last minute due to high interest from overseas.
The film, however, is not among the 15 films entered in the main competition section of the film festival and is categorized simply as an ‘‘additional screening.’’
source: http://www.japantoday.com/category/entertainment/view/director-calls-the-cove-his-love-letter-to-japanese-people