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The trailer for The Cove played in front of Food, Inc., and after only two minutes of clips from the harrowing documentary about the annual slaughter of dolphins in Taiji, Japan, my friend and I turned to each other wide-eyed and open-mouthed as we both whispered simultaneously, "There's no way I could see that."

But — as a lover of all creatures great and small — I later realized that I had to see this film, despite the fact that I knew it would break my heart into a million pieces and absolutely destroy me.  (Which, make no mistake, it did. It's been two weeks and I am still haunted by the images in its climactic finale.)  I certainly don't want to mislead anyone into thinking that The Cove is solely for marine mammal activists and their ilk, however.  Even if you couldn't care less about anything with a flipper or a blowhole, you're bound to amazed by the absolutely incredible lengths first-time director Louie Psihoyos and his covert team had to go to in order to make this movie. The end result is as much an action-packed, heart-pumping thriller as it is a jaw-dropping, maddening and educational exposé.

It's also a portrait of a man consumed by regret.  In the '60s, Ric O'Barry captured and trained the five dolphins that portrayed Flipper in the hit TV series of the same name.  Near the end of the series' run, he had an experience with one of the show's dolphins that, to him, made it crystal clear that these self-aware mammals shouldn't be anywhere but the wide-open ocean. O'Barry literally stopped everything he was doing and "switched sides"; the very next day he was thrown in jail for attempting to free a dolphin at a seaquarium in the Bahamas.  Now Ric's spent nearly four decades trying to make up for the ten years he was active in what is now a multi-billion-dollar "dolphin captivity industry" (his terminology).  So you can bet this rabble-rouser was more than eager to share his extensive knowledge of the players in Taiji with Psihoyos, especially since Psihoyos also shares O'Barry's passion for marine life — he co-founded The Oceanic Preservation Society in 2005.  Now they just needed to find a way to evade the local authorities in order to get the footage they needed…

So what exactly was Psihoyos (previously a National Geographic photographer for 18 years) trying to capture on film that required several months of planning, an Ocean's Eleven-like team of operatives, the participation of Industrial Light & Magic (Lucasfilm's effects studio), and the willingness to put oneself in harm's way or get arrested in a foreign country?  He wanted to shoot images and record sounds from a top-secret cove in Taiji, into which nearly thirty thousand dolphins are cruelly herded and then speared to death by local fishermen each year.  And when I say it's a top-secret cove, I mean top secret.  We're talking high, barbed-wire fences and constantly patrolled entrance points; those associated with the dolphin captures and massacres are well aware that if anyone actually ever saw what transpired in the privacy of their inlet, the international backlash and outrage would likely put them out of business.

Which is of course exactly what Psihoyos is hoping to achieve. 

He's covered all of his bases, too.  If you don't understand why dolphins should be treated any differently than, say, the thousands of cattle, pigs and chicken that are slaughtered each year for human consumption, O'Barry will enlighten you.  If you think this is a case of the West not understanding or respecting Eastern traditions, Psihoyos was smart enough to interview dozens of Japanese citizens who set the record straight.  If you figure that this is a matter best left to global watchdogs like the International Whaling Commission, there's just enough time spent inside the IWC's meetings to guarantee you'll want to pull your hair out over its incompetence, inefficiency and blatant political maneuvering.  If you wonder whether the dolphin slaughter is necessary in order to feed the citizens of Taiji and its surrounding areas, just wait until the interview with the scientist who discloses dolphin meat's mercury content.  And finally, if none of what I've said has piqued your curiosity, see The Cove for no other reason than to meet one of the most dastardly villains to grace the big screen this summer — "Private Space" — the deranged-looking, possibly mentally unstable security guard at the cove.  Forget Decepticons and Cobra forces, Private Space actually exists, and he doesn't need a rocket blaster or a gun or any sort of whiz-bang gizmo to prove that you should be very, very afraid of crossing him. 

As expected, I walked out of The Cove with puffy eyes and a red nose, but it was worth it.  This is one of the best films I've seen this year, and if it's playing near you, I highly recommend checking it out.  Afterward you can decide if, as O'Barry puts it, you want to be an activist… or an inactivist.

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