The Cove

The Cove is a documentary about a hidden operation in the Japanese coastal town of Taiji, where dolphins are driven into a narrow inlet each year. Some are taken alive and sold to marine parks around the world, while many others are killed for their meat. The film follows a team of filmmakers, conservationists and free divers who worked covertly to enter the cove and record what happened there, using cameras and underwater microphones concealed in rocks. Ric O'Barry, a former dolphin trainer from the 1960s television series Flipper, is central to the effort, having spent decades campaigning against the captivity trade. The crew also includes underwater cameramen, sound specialists and experienced divers, who faced local hostility while gathering footage.

Directed by Louie Psihoyos, a former National Geographic photographer, the film was written by Mark Monroe and produced by Charles Hambleton, Olivia Ahnemann and Fisher Stevens. It was the first feature Psihoyos directed, ahead of The Game Changers, You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment and The Plastic Detox. The cast includes Hayden Panettiere, Joe Chisholm, Mandy-Rae Cruikshank, Charles Hambleton, Simon Hutchins and Kirk Krack, appearing as themselves.

Released in 2009, the film had a modest worldwide box office of about 1 million USD, small relative to its impact. On IMDb it holds 8.4/10 from around 53,000 votes, and on TMDB 8/10 from 697 votes. A critics' rating of 8.2/10 from 133 reviews places it close to the audience scores.