Blackfish Information

Blackfish is a 2013 documentary film directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2013 and was picked up by Magnolia Pictures for wider release.

Blackfish focuses on the orca Tilikum and dangers of keeping the species in captivity.

Plot

The documentary focuses on the captivity of the killer whale Tilikum, who was involved in the deaths of three individuals, and the consequences of keeping such large and intelligent animals in captivity. The coverage of Tilikum begins with his capture in 1983 off the coast of Iceland, showing how he was harassed by fellow captive whales and left in dark tanks for hours - incidents which Cowperthwaite argues contributed to the whale's aggression. Cowperthwaite also focuses on SeaWorld's claims that whales in captivity live longer; a claim that the film argues is false.

Development

Cowperthwaite began work on the film after the death of Tilikum's trainer Dawn Brancheau and in response to the claim that the whale had targeted the trainer due to her wearing her hair in a ponytail. Cowperthwaite argued that this claim had been conjecture and that "there had to be more to this story".

Reception

Critical reception for the documentary has been very positive, with the film holding a 98% fresh rating on film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. The Deseret News called it "a gripping example of documentary filmmaking at its finest". Twitch Film and The Hollywood Reporter both praised Blackfish, with both review sites arguing that the film gave "a persuasive case against keeping the species " and by extension any wild animal " in captivity for the purposes of human entertainment". Film School Rejects gave the documentary a rating of B-, writing that it "never really offers anything new, but what it does feature is extremely important" and that it was "slanted in it view [sic]".

The ending to the upcoming animated film Finding Dory was revised after Pixar executives viewed Blackfish.

See also

• Killer whale attacks on humans