ONE PARAGRAPH REVIEW: Blackfish

Howdy ladies and gents people, time for another single paragraph review and today I’ll be doing a brief review on the film Blackfish. Now this is documentary I’d heard about a lot especially after its release in 2013, it was praised for being such a fine documentary but also for being very dramatic and hard to watch. So I’d had this film on my watch list for ages and since I had time to spare today I thought I’d check it out…

So at the time of writing this I still a little shaken. I was not prepared for this film at all. Blackfish might me the most emotionally gripping documentary I’ve seen to date, the film is fascinating, but also very sad, heartbreaking and constantly engaging. At first I was just in awe about the killer whales and their relationships with the trainers, but then when learn about the way orcas were captured, the environments that they were kept in and the way SeaWorld handled all of these situations you realise that the film is so much more than you expected. The are multiple deaths, in-fighting between the whales in their pools and conspiracies surrounding SeaWorld with their training practises and means of covering up some of the more horrific sides of the live performances. This film was incredibly insightful and well-versed with knowledge and arguments from several individuals whether they were former trainers, friends and family other the dead performers or other specialists, and you discover what went into the whale performances, but also how things could go wrong in the blink of an eye, how orcas were smarter than people gave them credit for and how we as humans couldn’t really predict how a situation would play out once you got too close. The use of archive footage, voiceover and music really help illustrate the scary reality of being a whale trainer and the imagery, some of it was pretty graphic, and while not too gory, it was enough to leave a notable impact. I felt bad for the people who died and the friends who were left with the memories, but I also felt bad for the whales (especially Tilikum), and I was wondering for a while how long SeaWorld would just allow these crazy things to happen before changing the rules or at least being made accountable for some of the madness that happened under their watch. If this film’s purpose was to illIcit an emotional response from me, than mission accomplished, throughout as things my heart was racing, I felt tension, anger, sadness, fear and some points I wanted to shed tears. And there was an overall feeling of being deeply disturbed, not only by the way capturing, captivity and death, but also because of the actions of SeaWorld and how we as humans chose to steal whales not only from their habitats and family, but make them do tricks for entertainment. Now I’m not saying I’m a fully converted whale activist, but after watching this documentary, my opinion on killers whales and the establishments that own them has changed a great deal. In conclusion Blackfish was a harrowing, dark and informative documentary handled with such care and strong direction from Gabriela Cowperthwaite, and while it was certainly a great film, I’m not sure I could bring myself to watch it again.

So that was my review, have you seen Blackfish and if so what did you think of it? Please leave your comments below and I’ll see ya on the next review, laters! 😀