Plot: The February 24, 2010 death of SeaWorld Orlando orca trainer Dawn Brancheau by the facility's male orca Tilikum serves as a jumping off point in the discussion not only of putting captive orcas at such facilities on show akin to circus animals, but whether cetaceans, especially orcas, should be held in captivity at all. Trainers at facilities like SeaWorld are much like dog trainers in knowing how to train behavior but do not have the scientific knowledge of the animals themselves. Many former SeaWorld trainers interviewed state that seeing orcas up close and personal at such facilities led them into wanting this job as their career. As more and more knowledge is gained about the general nature of orcas - virtually nothing known at the time orcas were captured for captivity to perform in such shows beginning in the 1970s - the more that the evidence points to the practice being inhumane and can potentially lead to such incidents that happened between Tilikum and Brancheau. While this evidence points to such captivity leading to possible psychosis in the orcas, especially the males of the largely matriarchal species who are often beaten by the females, any of the trainer/orca incidents, including Brancheau's death - she the third such trainer killed by a facility orca worldwide - have been spun by the facility in question as human error in their continuation to live on their bread and butter of these orca shows and breeding orcas to keep in captivity to continue the cycle.
Alternative Plot: The story of Tilikum, a captive killer whale that has taken the lives of several people, underscores problems within the sea-park industry, man's relationship to nature, and how little has been learned about these highly intelligent mammals.
Rate this movie!