Blackfish – Encore Viewing (2013)

“There is no record of an orca doing any harm to a human in the wild” – Howard Garrett

Number of Times Seen – 2 (13 Sep 2013 and 9 Feb 2014)

Link to original review – Here

Brief Synopsis – A documentary that tries to discover why a Killer Whale who has killed at least 3 people was allowed to do so and continues to be used for shows in SeaWorld.

My Take on it –  I saw this movie 4 months ago and still cannot get it out of my mind.   It even prompted me to watch the god-awful Free Willy (1993) right before I re-watched this one.

It is such a powerful film that it draws the viewer into it’s story and just doesn’t want to let go.

I have been to SeaWorld a few times in my life and have seen the Killer Whales (and other animals) in action and at the time, I was very enthralled by it.

After having watched this movie (yet again), I can’t imagine being interested in seeing that kind of show again.

I definitely wouldn’t label myself as an environmentalist (probably the complete opposite), but this movie gives a clear answer as to whether these creatures should be held in captivity or not.  It’s hard to find an argument (besides making money) to counter that fact.

Many people have claimed that this movie is biased and one-sided because it doesn’t show both sides of the story, but the problem with that argument is that apparently SeaWorld refused to comment on it and like I said earlier, what argument can they give as a counter?

If there are so much documentation of Killer Whales attacking their trainers in some way, shape or form, why is this being continued?

The problem here is that there is no clear answer and that is the message this movie is trying to show.

I truly believed that this movie was robbed of an Oscar Nomination for Best Documentary (Full disclosure, I haven’t seen any of the nominees yet because I thought this and Stories We Tell (2012) would dominate.)

Bottom Line – Excellent documentary that will keep you thinking about it for days, if not weeks. Highly Recommended!

Rating – Oscar Worthy (no change from original review)

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