History Film / TheCove

* TheAtoner: Ric O'Barry, who went from being a celebrated dolphin trainer to an uncompromising activist to free dolphins from aquariums, as well as to expose the Taiji dolphin kill.

''The Cove'' is a 2009 documentary which won the 2010 UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Documentary. It documents the practices of the small town of Taiji, UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}, a Real-Life TownWithADarkSecret. Every year, fishermen in Taiji drive thousands of dolphins into a small secretive cove, where they are slaughtered. The documentary revolves around a small crew of American and Canadian filmakers who try to find ways to plant cameras to document these horrible killings. It was followed up by a new series headed by Ric O'Barry, ''Series/BloodDolphins''.

* GiveMeAReason: The activists and fishers are in a passive agressive MexicanStandoff to catch the other ones doing something illegal on tape.

''The Cove'' is a 2009 documentary which won the 2010 Academy Award for Best Documentary. It documents the practices of the small town of Taiji, Japan, a Real-Life TownWithADarkSecret. Every year, fishermen in Taiji drive thousands of dolphins into a small secretive cove, where they are slaughtered. The documentary revolves around a small crew of American and Canadian filmakers who try to find ways to plant cameras to document these horrible killings. It was followed up by a new series headed by Ric O'Barry, ''Series/BloodDolphins''.

!!Contains the tropes:

* AvengersAssemble: The team is introduced as experts in their field, with a shout out to ''[[Film/OceansEleven Ocean's Eleven]]

* TownWithADarkSecret: Taiji itself
* [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman What Measure Is a Non-Human?]]

* AvengersAssemble: the team is introduced as experts in their field, with a shout out to ''[[Film/OceansEleven Ocean's Eleven]]
* BloodIsSquickerInWater: how the Cove looks like once the cull starts.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: the International Whaling Commission members from small Carribean countries who appear to have traded their votes for financial support from Japan.

* EurekaMoment: when visiting a local shrine where people look at arranged rocks, the team gets the idea to hide cameras inside decoy rocks.

* HiddenWire: the aquaphone hidden in the seabed, and the cameras disguised as rocks.
* HonorBeforeReason: activist group Sea Shepherd tried to film the Taiji massacre few years earlier, but got caught because some members decided to cut the nets and release the dolphins before the cull could start.

* ObstructiveBureaucrat: much of Taiji's council, which apparently has an intentionally complicated bureaucracy system to make it hard for outsiders to get any footage of the Taiji dolphin kill.

''The Cove'' is a 2009 documentary which won the 2010 Academy Award for Best Documentary. It documents the practices of the small town of Taiji, Japan, a Real-Life TownWithADarkSecret. Every year, fishermen in Taiji drive thousands of dolphins into a small secretive cove, where they are slaughtered. The documentary revolves around a small crew of American and Canadian filmakers who try to find ways to plant cameras to document these horrible killings. It was followed up by a new series headed by Ric O'Berry, ''Series/BloodDolphins''.

* TheAtoner: Ric O'Berry, who went from being a celebrated dolphin trainer to an uncompromising activist to free dolphins from aquariums, as well as to expose the Taiji dolphin kill.

* ProperlyParanoid: Ric O'Berry, who director Louie Psihoyas thinks is a bit of a kook when he talks about being constantly observed in Taiji and how the fishermen would probably kill him if they could get away with it. Then Louie starts to notice he's being followed around town by mysterious cars...

* DrivenToSuicide: Ric Barry claims that one of the dolphins that he trained for ''Flipper'' committed suicide by seizing to breathe.

''The Cove'' is a 2009 documentary which won the 2010 Academy Award for Best Documentary. It documents the practices of the small town of Taiji, Japan, a Real-Life TownWithADarkSecret. Every year, fishermen in Taiji drive thousands of dolphins into a small secretive cove, where they are slaughtered. The documentary revolves around a small crew of American and Canadian filmakers who try to find ways to plant cameras to document these horrible killings. It was followed up by a new series headed by Ric O'Berry, ''BloodDolphins''.