MOVIE | Blackfish

I saw this last Sunday, after so much hesitation, because I’d been warned about how shocking and heart-breaking it is. But I love whales and everything around them I would devour with passion. My wish to reincarnate as a Blue still stands firm until now (after a tree, of course!). My favourite has always been the Blues, with Humpbacks following so close and white cute Belugas as a bias wrecker!

But Orcas are different. I’m always in awe of those large-brained, super cultured and social creatures, so sleek and chic in their black and white. Such power, such intelligence! They are apex predators to be admired from afar. Yet, they cannot win against us. We as a species is ‘too successful for our own good, and for theirs.’ (Life on Our Planet). The outrageous truth about theme parks or circus with performing animals, aquariums, and zoos with poor conditions that create turmoils, stress and traumas for animals are staggering. No one deserves to be removed from their family since birth, caged, celled and forced to perform to entertain us.

This is especially detrimental for highly intelligent animals with a strong sense of self and of community like Orcas who move 64 km per day and dive up to 150m deep, hunting in tight-knit pods with their own techniques and strategies, each family is said to have their sophisticated, unique culture, knowledge and language that are passed down through generations. Being confined in small bathtubs that they cannot even move, seperated and put together against their will is a crime that entails fatal physical and psychological consequences.

I was horrified, raged, and devastated at what happened, and has still been happening, even now 10 years later. This film is a wonderful, captivating story about these beautiful animals and their tragic life in captivity.