The Cove, a shocking, gripping documentary that plays like an action film opens this weekend. It was the winner of the Audience Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

From Alternet.org

Ric O’Barry almost looks crazy. He is driving a car, with a mask over his mouth, crouching low in his seat, hoping not to be recognized.

If the authorities catch him, there’s no telling what will happen to him. He’s cruising through the misty streets of Taiji, Japan, a small town with a really big secret, he says. And it’s a secret that the town’s fishermen want to hide from the rest of the world at all costs.

This is how the documentary, The Cove, opens. And it turns out O’Barry is not crazy, he’s on a mission—probably one of the most important in the history of conservation. And it’s personal.

He used to be a world-famous dolphin trainer. He captured and trained the five dolphins who played Flipper in the hit TV show of the same name. The show’s popularity sparked a dolphin craze that has continued since the 1960s and has grown into $2 billion industry in the U.S. alone.

But while places like Sea World might be raking in the cash, O’Barry has spend the last 35 years trying to end dolphin captivity—having had a change of heart after the tragic suicide of one of the main dolphins in Flipper. (If you want to know how a dolphin can commit suicide, you’ll have to see The Cove.)

The Cove (official website)

Japan Has a Dark Secret It Hopes the World Will Never See by Tara Lohan