Looking Deeper into Blackfish

Blackfish is a horrifying, informing, and overall saddening documentary. The film was amazingly educational and emotional, however, my favorite parts of the film were the opening scenes. The first few minutes of the film included positive interviews with retired trainers. Each trainer expressed his or her deep emotions towards the orca whales they had trained by going into detail about their personal connections and relationships with their animal. They had chosen their careers for a reason, and their honest, genuine love towards their animals was heartwarming. I really enjoyed listening to how they came to be a trainers and how passionate they are about their chosen career.

Considering the problems presented in the film, orca attacks to trainers are terrifying. Considering the way the trainers talked about the orcas they trained, I would never imagine attacks so brutal taking place. However, the film focused on the source of the animal's aggression. The inhuman facilities orca whales withstand during their short, depressing lifetime in Sea World parks explain their actions expressing frustration and unhappiness towards their trainers. This shocking problem continues to be ignored today.

 If I could sit down with one person from the film, I would definitely choose the significant other of Alexis Martinez, Estefania Rodriguez. Alexis, or Alex, Martinez was the top trainer at his Sea World affiliated facility and was a victim of an orca attack by a whale named Keto. The way she spoke about him, both about their life together or his accident, was heartbreaking; It brought me to tears. The way she described his body after the accident was gruesome and devastating. It was so difficult to watch her talk about the one she loved having to die in such a tragic event. I would ask her how she was living her life now without Alex. I would also ask her how she feels about the current problems regarding trainers and their whales. Although these attacks are brutal, one example, Estefania described Alex's corpse appearing "crushed", these whales are crying out for help as they swim in Hell.

The film mentioned a condition regarding a collapsed dorsal fin on male orcas. As evidence was recorded featuring Sea World employees, lies were surfaced as they explained 25% of male orcas experience this condition. Going on, the employees bluff that orcas live 25-30 years, that being longer in captivity than in the wild due to the available veterinary care. The film proves both of these claims by Sea World employees to be lies, as orcas can live 60-100 years in the wild and the amount of male orcas in the wild with a collapsed dorsal fin are little to none. The picture below is a recent image of Tilikum preforming and the Sea World in Orlando, Florida with a collapsed dorsal fin, a product of captivity life.

Works Cited

Blackfish. Dir. Gabriela Cowperthwaite. Perf. John Hargrove, Samantha Berg, Mark Simmons, Kim 

     Ashdown, Dean Gomersall. Magnolia Pictures, 2013.

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