Hacker Cinema
The Cove
2009 · Film · documentary · 92 min
Directed by Louie Psihoyos
The Cove tells the amazing true story of how an elite team of individuals, films makers and free divers embarked on a covert mission to penetrate the hidden cove in Japan, shining light on a dark and deadly secret. The shocking discoveries were only the tip of the iceberg.
11 positive5 neutralfrom 16 commenters
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17 comments on Hacker News
To be completely honest - my memory for films is terrible, so I struggle to remember why I loved many of these. Also, many of them take unexpected twists and to say why I loved them so much risks ruining part of the surprise. I've watched countless documentaries and in order for them to make this list I have to _really_ enjoy them, and for the most part they require no interest in the subject matter in my opinion - they're just objectively good. So, I'd recommend literally any to start with, but with all that being said, some favourites amongst the favourites:
The Crash Reel - an amazing tale of a person preparing for the olympics, with an unexpected turn and just a very heartwarming/impressive journey - very very highly recommended.
The Cove - follows a whaling event that happens every year, and exposes the savagery of it. However, it's filmed almost like a thriller, in how the team set up to expose the event. Very eye opening, if a little sad, but very very good.
Drew: The Man Behind the Poster - just an amazing documentary about a man who makes amazing film posters - incredible, you'll see that he's responsible for so many recognisable posters from your childhood.
Being Elmo - lovely film about the puppeteer behind Elmo - really heartwarming
13th - very good film about racial injustice in the legal system.
I love documentaries, and these are my favourites. All very worth a watch.
- The Crash Reel
- McConkey
- Buck
- Apollo 11
- Carts of Darkness
- The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia
- Samsara
- Baraka
- Brooklyn Castle
- Spellbound
- Drew: The Man Behind the Poster
- Crumb
- The Jinx
- The Art of Flight
- King of Kong
- Indie Game: The Movie
- Capturing the Friedmans
- OJ: Made in America
- The Barkley Marathons
- The Seven Five
- Murderball
- Unbranded
- Gringo: The Dangerous Life of John McAfee
- Big River Man
- Hoop Dreams
- Word Wars
- Free Solo
- Long Shot
- Meru
- Being Elmo
- All This Mayhem
- Jiro Dreams of Sushi
- The Cove
- Project Nim
- Alone in the Wilderness
- Behind the Curve
- The Dawn Wall
- Grizzly Man
- 13th
- Winnebago Man
- Man vs Snake: The Long and Twisted Tale of Nibbler
- Get Me Roger Stone
- Icarus
- 13th
- Koyaanisqatsi
- The Thin Blue Line
- An Inconvenient Truth
- Oklahoma City
- Virunga
- The Staircase
- Evil Genius
- Undefeated
- Betting on zero
It reminds me of the documentary The Cove. People were herding dolphins by banging metal rods in the water. It doesn't seem noisy, but it's clearly stressful for them.
The Triumph of the Will comes to mind. Political propaganda films can be effective ways to change the world for the worse.
Many documentaries end up effecting permanent changes that may only be noticeable to people who live in a certain place or work in a certain industry. The Cove and Blackfish had a pretty direct effect on how SeaWorld treats its animals, but that doesn't quite rise to the level of "changing the world" as most would see it.
I think The Cove (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cove_(film)) had a lot to do with raising (negative) awareness of dolphin fishing in Japan.
I guess this boils down to what your mean by "inspiring"; let me give you some of my favorites by category:
> Movies about people doing stuff, usually investigating something - makes me want to get up and get stuff done
[1] Cold Case Hammarskjöld - IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9352780/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
[2] Tickled - Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOBXuCYB4jQ
[3] Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles - Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIWpJ5Jl4fE (full movie is on Youtube, Too)
[4] The Cove - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cove_(film)
> Movies about ... the human condition, human life on earth? IDK, but if you watch the trailer, you get what I mean. WARNING: Might evoke the urge to travel
[1] Koyaanisqatsi - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koyaanisqatsi - Pruitt Igoe Scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nq_SpRBXRmE
[2] Samsara - Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCkEILshUyU
[3] Anthropocene - Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikMlCxzO-94 (Check out his other movie "Watermark", too!)
> Movies about the work of particular people:
[1] Playing God - Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knK4lE3tZBM
I saw "The Cove" a couple of days ago (in streaming here, btw https://azm.to/movie/the-cove ) where Japan is portrayed pretty bad: the worst is how they "engage" small/poor countries to support their national policy over fishing: the list of these 14 reminds me that a bit.
Anyhow, as some of you said: it's probably better then nothing
Ric O'Barry, former trainer of the dolphins used for the 'Flipper' TV show (now animal rights activist) tells a story in the documentary 'The Cove' how one of the dolphins swam up to him one day, looked him in the eye, took a last breath and then sank to the bottom of the tank and died [1]. Given that dolphins have to make a conscious choice for every breath they take gives some indication for a conscious decision for suicide.
[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20110926051048/https://blog.sfgate.com/dailydish/2010/04/23/ric-obarry-flipper-committed-suicide/
The Venus Project: Future By Design - By Jacque Fresco. Introduced Jacque Fresco's philosophy, R.I.P., and also the empathy we must have in designing something that is good for the planet and for the future. I highly recommend.
Mike Maloney's "Hidden Secrets of Money" is a beautiful set of YouTube documentaries financed by Mike himself. It educated me and millions out there how money really worked in the real world, and how the Federal Reserve and banking manipulates currency. https://goldsilver.com/hidden-secrets/
The Corporation - When Corporations started to get the same rights and treatment as regular citizens, we have created a monster that have changed our world for the worst.
The Cove and Blackfish. Really sad and made me stay away from Sea World and circuses and places that held animals in captivity for entertainment.
The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara - The 11 lessons are worth learning: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fog_of_War
Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room/Inside Job - When corporations are run by sociopaths.
An Inconvenient Truth - Global warming.
Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel/Bill Cunningham New York - Learned so much about creativity and just being true to your unique self regardless of what the world thinks.
Zeitgeist - Esoteric knowledge.
Here's my list of 10/10 documentaries:
Biopics and Portraits:
- Kung Fu Elliot (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3228302/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Listen to Me Marlon (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4145178/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Man on Wire (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1155592/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- My Winnipeg (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1093842/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- A Gray State (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6794380/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Happy People: A Year in the Taiga (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1683876/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Valley Uprising (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3784160/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- You've Been Trumped (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1943873/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
Environmental:
- Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3302820/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- The Cove (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1313104/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Chasing Coral (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6333054/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Virunga (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3455224/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
Crime:
- Cartel Land (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4126304/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- The Act of Killing (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2375605/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- The Culture High (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1778338/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4299972/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- West of Memphis (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2130321/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- How to Make Money Selling Drugs (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1276962/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- The Fear of 13 (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5083702/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Brother's Keeper (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103888/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Auschwitz: The Nazis and the 'Final Solution' (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0446610/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
Reflecting on Life and Death:
- Given (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4890452/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Extremis (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5538078/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Touching the Void (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379557/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Attention: A Life in Extremes (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2846628/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
Society:
- Israel vs Israel (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1753960/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Inside Job (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1645089/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- The Overnighters (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3263996/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
Some inspiration:
https://www.wired.com/2015/11/racing-extinction-louis-psihoyos/
The Cove - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1313104/
The Yes Men - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379593
Hologram/projection protesting - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3038317/The-world-s-HOLOGRAM-protest-Thousands-join-virtual-march-Spain-against-law-banning-demonstrations-outside-government-buildings.html
Here is the list of my favorite documentaries: - The Cove - Food, Inc. - The Century Of The Self - Inside Job - Earthlings - Samsara - Earth - A Map For Saturday - The Story Of India
The documentary "The Cove" has a side story about mercury in Japanese seafood from some places.
Just my humble opinion, but it doesn't matter how the artist achieved the results. The work speaks for itself.
Tim's Vermeer is probably a lot like watching a behind the scenes video. If you enjoy consuming information for information sake, you might find it interesting, but a lot of work and money goes into making a feature documentary and it should be a work of art itself. If it doesn't have broad appeal, it's referred to as a vanity project.
The Cove is a good example of a documentary that is also a work of art. The story has a beginning a middle and an end and they are all made big through the story telling. The same could have been true of Tim's Vermeer if the story was told differently.
I apologize if my original comment came across as negative. I sometimes feel let down if stories are told in lazy or inexperienced ways and the article makes the story play like an episode of this old house.
"The Cove" (http://www.thecovemovie.com)
I had no idea what it was about when I flipped it on, but it's a great hacker movie. The guy who trained Flipper is trying to save some dolphins from being killed in Japan, so he teams up with some folks from Industrial Light and Magic to rig a secret cove with all kinds of spying equipment to catch the guys doing it. Really interesting.
I watched the excellent documentary "The Cove" a few weeks ago, and I highly recommend watching it. Though the film did fill me with dread and outrage (as intended), ironically, the portrayal of the brutal slaughter of dolphins by Japanese fishermen convinced me that dolphins are not nearly as smart as many people would like to convince us of.
Here's why: Imagine there were one particular mountain valley tucked away in some corner of the world, and while human beings could range all over the vastness of this earth unharmed, if they ventured into that valley they would be killed. In that valley there was a race of essentially invincible beings that would herd any wayward human beings into a side canyon and spear them to death.
How would the human race react to that? Let's assume that mounting a military attack and killing the invincible beings weren't possible. Well, first of all, we'd put up signs and fences and maybe even sentries to warn people not to go into that valley. We'd tell our children about the danger, and pass the knowledge of the invincible murderous monsters on, generation to generation. If people did go in there and got killed we'd cover the event in detail on TV, as a warning to others (like Shark Week). Even really stupid people would know not to go into the "valley of the stabby monsters."
Well, if Dolphins are so smart, and they have such good communication and advanced social structure, then why haven't the many dolphins that have personally witnessed the slaughter at "The Cove" and escaped (the movie shows dolphins escaping) managed to warn other dolphins not to go there?
Honestly, if dolphins were anywhere near as smart as humans and were anywhere near as ruthless, they not only would have prevented the slaughter, but would have mounted a commando raid wherein expert jumping dolphins would have trained to jump out of the water, knock the fishermen out of their little boats, then beaten and dragged them down into the cove until they were drowned. And I'm being serious about this. Human beings wouldn't put up with that shit.
Other observed dolphin behavior, such as dolphins killing each other and attacking sharks to defend swimming humans does prove that they have the wherewithal to act in both self-preservation, and in the defense of others, even to violence. But they still get speared in the cove. That tells me they're not that smart.
I strongly recommend the movie The Cove. It's much more entertaining and less depressing than you would expect. Available via DVD or bittorrent. http://www.thecovemovie.com/ (flash site so I can't link directly to the trailer)