Growing up I have a vague memory of visiting SeaWorld. With only three locations across the United States, SeaWorld is a destination trip like Disneyworld or Legoland, so it was such a treat when your parents decided to take you to this fun-filled attraction. 

If you did get the chance to visit, you would experience their famous live shows that would take place in the park. Probably the most famous of these is the one performed with a killer whale, which is also displayed on a great amount of their promotional material. This black and white sea animal is the mascot for the park.

A question I always wondered though was why the orca whale was called “killer.” While it may have some roots in a spanish mistranslation in the past, there is also some truth that orcas have killed humans; especially orcas that have been contained in parks for years at a time. "Blackfish" takes a look at one orca in particular after the death of a SeaWorld trainer named Dawn Brancheau in 2010.

Now this article isn’t a sympathy-heavy PETA promotion about how we need to free all the animals in captivity, but it is a proponent of this film because it brings to light a lot of information. This information is some that the public relations team at SeaWorld has been trying to work on for awhile now.

"Blackfish" was directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite and premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2013, but has since been made available to a wider audience as it was added to Netflix. Cowperthwaite started this project after the death of Brancheau in 2010, and while the documentary also looks at other aspects of SeaWorld and its trainers, its focus is on the orca that was responsible for Brancheau’s death named Tilikum.

The documentary spans the life of Tilikum, from his capture to where he currently is and why he is an asset for SeaWorld. Along with his life are other instances of trainer incidents and mishaps that have been quietly avoided or covered up as well as interviews with professionals in the industry and surrounding it. This includes people who study whales, ex-trainers and witnesses of the incidents.

Another notable recurrence in "Blackfish" is that of the SeaWorld International LLC vs OSHA trial which was spurred as a result of the incidents that have occurred in SeaWorld, especially the death of Brancheau.

I highly recommend watching this documentary as it really shines light on a lot of things I didn’t know about the captivity of these enormous creatures or how their minds worked, but since it is a documentary it inevitably did have an agenda.

After some research, I found that a couple of the people interviewed said that their were other parts of the story that painted a different picture, but Cowperthwaite didn’t add these as they didn’t fit with her vision of the story. In all honesty,  it's hard to make something like this without providing a light in which to see these events.

All in all however, I divulged a lot of key information that really makes "Blackfish" such a great documentary, so do yourself a favor and go check it out.