Academy Awards winner: The Cove

In the 1960s, Ric O'Barry was arguably the highest paid animal trainer in the world after he caught and trained five dolphins to play Flipper in the iconic children's TV series of the same name.

But in 1970, when one of his prized dolphins became depressed and died in his arms, O'Barry underwent a Damascene conversion. He has spent the past four decades dedicated to freeing captive marine mammals from the industry he helped spawn.

The Cove, which opened in Britain last October, tells the story of how O'Barry became a marine activist. More chillingly, however, it also exposes the brutal annual dolphin slaughter in the Japanese fishing village of Taiji.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID:
Roger Ebert, the Chicago Sun-Times: "There are many documentaries angry about the human destruction of the planetary peace. This is one of the very best - a certain Oscar nominee." (Verdict: four stars out of four)

Trevor Johnston, Time Out: "There's an effective thriller element to this vividly assembled doc... however, what lifts the film beyond effective consciousness-raising into the realms of human tragedy, is the startling irony that project instigator O'Barry is none other than the trainer of '60s TV icon Flipper, whose popularity spawned the whole dolphin show explosion in the first place." (Verdict: five stars out of five)

Jeanette Catsoulis, the New York Times: "[The Cove] is a Trojan horse: an exceptionally well-made documentary that unfolds like a spy thriller, complete with bugged hotel rooms, clandestine derring-do and mysterious men in gray flannel suits." 

The Cove is out now on dvd. ·