“Blackfish” Movie Review

Blackfish Movie Review

Sean Gleason, Print Design Co-Editor

This movie blew my mind. This movie revealed so much information that I didn’t know.

“Blackfish” begins with former orca trainers recalling how happy and joyous everything was when they were starting out.

All the anticipation, awe and excitement, however, quickly fades, and the mood makes a huge shift. The movie brings up the 2006 orca attack on a senior trainer at Sea World. From here on in the movie, there’s a constant serious, regretful and gloomy feel.

Especially when the movie starts talking about the claimed unethical and immoral things that were going on at Sea World, from habitating the orcas in confined crates, to food deprivation and punishment of orcas, and even misinforming the public. The movie said the orcas were purposely not fed the orcas if one of them didn’t do the routine correctly. This would then make the orcas that performed well gang up on the orca that didn’t do well. Footage was even shown of orcas having multiple gruesome and bloody scratches and lacerations.

Speaking of footage, the live videos of the orca attacks on trainers are phenomenal and horrific themselves.

When it came to misinforming the public, the movie claimed that Sea World would always find an excuse as to why the trainer was attacked.

I definitely was convinced, because being just an average-joe, I don’t know anything about orcas or training them.

In the end, this movie was extremely eye-opening and illuminating, I can guarantee you’ll look at Sea World and orcas in a whole new way from watching this movie.

The film will open in theatres on Friday, August 23 at Kahala 8.

(Thanks to Consolidated Theatres for inviting The Pinion to the press screening of this event.)