Orca documentary creates big splash
PARK CITY, UTAH — Three weeks after SeaWorld issued an initial public offering on Wall Street, a new movie at the Sundance Film Festival stands a good chance of putting the $2-billion theme park out of business.
Blackfish tells the story of Tilikum, a 12,000-pound orca linked to the deaths of three people, the details of which remained rather sketchy until documentary director Gabriela Cowperthwaite decided to dive into a bloody pool of controversy, commerce and humananimal dynamics.
The results of her inquiry are dramatic and feature some of the most horrific footage unspooling here in Park City. From never-before-seen images of trainers being dragged underwater by the orca, to disturbing footage of killer whales being captured, Blackfish is making a splash big enough to transform public opinion about orca shows, as well as all animal captivity.
Cowperthwaite says she is not an activist, and had no intention of proselytizing when she set out to make her heart-wrenching feature. A veteran director who has worked with ESPN and National Geographic, she says she just felt there was a compelling story to tell in the wake of Dawn Brancheau’s death in February 2010.
Brancheau, a veteran trainer, was scalped, dragged and finally killed by Tilikum after a Dine With Shamu show. According to the 911 call we hear in the opening frames of the film, the whale also ate her arm.
“I had a burning question: Why would a 15-year veteran SeaWorld trainer come to be killed by a highly intelligent animal? ”Cow perth waite says.
“You know? She’d worked with the whale for years. You hear of pitbulls mauling other people but not their masters, so why would a whale bite the hands that feed it? That was my entry point into the whole thing.”
Within a few hours of starting her research and reading a magazine feature about Tilikum, Cowperthwaite discovered it was not the first time the orca had a fatal encounter with humans.
In 1991, swim champion and parttime whale trainer Keltie Byrne was killed after she slipped into the water at Sealand in Victoria, Tilikum’s first caged experience after being captured as a 4-year-old in Iceland.
Byrne was dragged underwater several times by the whale before an audience of shocked visitors, many of whom had never been interviewed before — but are given a chance to share their story in Cowperthwaite’s film.
The official cause of death was drowning, but there was a lot of confusion over exactly what happened, and whether the whale was simply trying to “play” with Byrne, or had some kind of lethal intent.
The incident led to the closing of Sealand and Tilikum was moved to SeaWorld in Orlando, Fla., shortly afterwards.
Eight years later, Daniel Dukes was found dead on Tilikum’s back, naked, with his genitals bitten off. According to SeaWorld, Dukes hid in the park, waited until it closed and took a skinny dip in Tilikum’s pool.
The event was written off as death by misadventure, but Brancheau’s death 11 years later prompted an inquiry and lawsuit on behalf of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The judicial proceedings brought SeaWorld’s private video footage into the public domain, giving Cowperthwaite ample access to the breathtaking, and frequently horrific, images that make up Blackfish.
But the film is not a reality TVstyle shock-fest: In addition to the shots of Tilikum yanking other trainers into the water, Cowperthwaite also includes interviews with fishermen who capture whales for a living, several retired SeaWorld trainers and bona fide scientists and cetacean specialists who shed light on the ocean’s No. 1 predator.
“No one currently working at SeaWorld was permitted to speak with me,” Cowperthwaite says. But those she did interview conveyed a great sense of relief.
“It was like I was taking confession,” she says. “People have been carrying these stories for years.”
For Cowperthwaite, the most difficult scenes involved the image of a mother orca after being separated from her baby. “I think no matter where you stand on the whole issue of animal captivity, you can’t watch that scene of a mother being separated from her calf and think it’s OK. For me, as a mother, that was the hardest stuff to watch.”
Tilikum remains in captivity in Orlando where he performs daily, and is used as the theme park’s “orca sperm bank,” siring most of the theme park’s captive whales.
“I think Tilikum is a pleaser,” Cowperthwaite says.
“I think he is confused, left out, frustrated and incredibly, incredibly lonely.”