Within a few days the shocked media reports had largely moved on, there would eventually be new audiences in the park every day, new trainers to replace Dawn and more immediate news-stories to fill the column inches and air-time.
The problem was that a later autopsy noted that Brancheau didn't merely slip and drown due to the actions of her charge. She was effectively scalped, her jaw fractured and dislocated bones in the rest of her body. This wasn't a mere slip and a bang of the head made more serious by an over-eager animal, this was an attack. What's more, this wasn't the first tragic incident at Sea World, nor the first to be dismissed as an 'unavoidable freak accident'. In fact, the more one looked at the reports the park had issued - or not issued - the more it became clear that there was a broader context. Just how had Sea World and its partners treated Tillikum and the other whales, what training and assistance had the trainers been given and how fast had bucks been passed at the time of this and other tragedies?
Talking to several ex SeaWorld employees, looking at the facilities the park used and the changing nature of its corporate stance on key issues, Blackfish begins piecing together over two decades of what appears to be contradictory and sometimes damning evidence that various issues were never fully revealed or investigated. At its heart is the key issue of corporate greed and whether you can ever contain sea-faring creatures in 'storage' areas little bigger than a swimming pool and trot them out for daily shows with the promise of food.... and expect that something won't go wrong if an animal fights back.
Documentaries are always difficult things to evaluate - no project or director will ever be completely objective, whatever their subject. The task becomes even more problematic when a documentary starts out from a place where it clearly and unapologetically has an agenda to highlight something it believes is morally wrong - to actively present a case, created by its chosen selection of evidence. However well presented, however erudite the commentary or the power of its imagery, it's like listening to one side of a debate and there will always be (or should be) the voice in the back of your head yearning to hear the reasons/excuses/counter-arguments from the other side.
It is true that for 95% of its running time Blackfish really only presents one side of the argument against the practices of the Sea World marine parks and their systematic treatment of its performing whales. However what it does show does indeed raise some serious ethical and professional concerns about not only the treatment that specific whales endured but in the way that certain events - including the death of several trainers -was spun to the media with glaring misinformation.
To be fair to the makes of Blackfish, the lack of Sea World representation may not have been the film-makers' choice - it is claimed the organisation was approached and refused to co-operate in providing anyone of note to refute the documentary's claims. Instead, it waited until the last minute to issue a dismissive statement as the film debuted, decrying the theatrical release. It read:
Blackfish’ is billed as a documentary, but instead of a fair and balanced treatment of a complex subject, the film is inaccurate and misleading and, regrettably, exploits a tragedy that remains a source of deep pain for Dawn Brancheau’s family, friends and colleagues...
To promote its bias that killer whales should not be maintained in a zoological setting, the film paints a distorted picture that withholds from viewers key facts about SeaWorld – among them, that SeaWorld is one of the world’s most respected zoological institutions, that SeaWorld rescues, rehabilitates and returns to the wild hundreds of wild animals every year, and that SeaWorld commits millions of dollars annually to conservation and scientific research. Perhaps most important, the film fails to mention SeaWorld’s commitment to the safety of its team members and guests and to the care and welfare of its animals, as demonstrated by the company’s continual refinement and improvement to its killer whale facilities, equipment and procedures both before and after the death of Dawn Brancheau.
Which you have to admit is interesting in at least two respects. One, it demonstrably fails to really fully address the key accusations at the heart of the film (merely suggesting that as well as bad things, it does good things too) and secondly it makes you wonder why Sea World didn't take the chance to take part in a film where it could immediately give its stance and version of events. If it feels badly done-by and wants to enhance its reputation, then it will surely need more than a predicatble press release that wreaks of the corporate-speak that Blackfish already decries.
The kind of film that deserves to be seen and scrutinised, one suspects this release will ultimately have more success on the festival circuit or on a tv showing - it simply isn't the feel-good outing that many multiplex punters will plump for. It may not present an entire picture and the other side deserves to be heard, but the one it paints demands attention and has certainly put this reviewer off going back to SeaWorld until those urgent answers are forthcoming.
8/10
Blackfish is distributed by Dogwoof and is out 26th July.
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