Whether you agree with the messages of The Cove or not, I encourage you to watch the documentary to learn about the issue of dolphin hunting in Japan.
As an American who has lived in Japan for twenty years, I watched The Cove with mixed feelings, with both Western and Japanese perspectives. On the one hand, I strongly believe that the dolphins off the coast of Taiji are killed in a cruel, unnecessary way. I oppose the dolphin slaughter and the hunting of whales. On the other hand, I understand the indignation and insult the local fishermen feel when outsiders come into their town and interfere with their way of living. The Taiji people must feel that The Cove documentary makers were condescending and insensitive.
Japan is often portrayed as a closed society - an outdated stereotype. But the filmmakers were able to stay in Taiji and conduct much of their filming largely unmolested (the intimidation of “Private Space” and the nighttime operations obvious exceptions). Can you imagine how a group of Japanese filmmakers would have been treated in the US had they tried to secretly document what happens at the factory farms depicted in Food, Inc.? (Food, Inc. was a 2008 Academy Award runner-up to The Cove; these two great documentaries should be viewed together as companion pieces.)