Eco-Pirate: The Story of Paul Watson captures a larger-than-life vigilante

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      A documentary by Trish Dolman. Unrated. Opens Friday, July 22, at the Fifth Avenue Cinemas

      From the title, you’d expect Trish Dolman’s new documentary to aggrandize the bad boy of Canada’s environmental movement. The surprise is that Paul Watson, the founder and president of the whaler-warring Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, is presented here with humpback-size flaws.

      What we get is a complicated portrait of an egomaniac who openly admits he prefers cetaceans over people—even his spouses, it would appear—and is so convinced of his own epic status he’ll crank up “Ride of the Valkyries” before descending upon a Japanese whaling ship. At the same time, he’s an enigma haunted by an abusive father and the early death of his mother and understandably traumatized by the up-close sight of hundreds of majestic whales having their innards blown out by explosive harpoons.

      We hear people from Martin Sheen to Anthony Kiedis call him their hero, while others, like former Greenpeace Foundation president Patrick Moore, dub him a loose cannon.

      The resulting doc is a compelling mix: along with capturing this larger-than-life whale vigilante, it weaves in a wealth of archival footage of the modern environmental movement being born in Vancouver in the 1970s and action-packed scenes of the Sea Shepherd crew chasing after Japanese ships in the bleakly beautiful waters of Antarctica.

      Dolman doesn’t shy away from showing what has made Watson so damn angry over the past four decades. You’ll see what a harpoon can do to a whale and watch the blood from the butcher decks gush out of the sides of the killer ships’ hulls. Like last year’s The Cove, it’s a lesson in all that’s wrong with the world’s whaling policies and how much we’ve plundered the oceans.

      So while you’ll probably come out of Eco-Pirate supporting Watson’s actions, you won’t necessarily like him—and after getting to know him over the course of this film, you can rest assured he won’t give a shit.


      Watch the trailer for Eco-Pirate: The Story of Paul Watson.

      Comments

      3 Comments

      Philip Henson

      Jul 21, 2011 at 4:49am

      Actually, the ones who truly don't give a shit are the members of the apathetic majority, who will do nothing about the plight of the oceans right up to the point where the oceans ecosystems collapse, and are unable to support life on this planet.
      This is happening NOW. Look at the many reports on this subject. Then have a look at your children and consider what you are doing for their future.
      I have personally met Captain Watson, and have found him to be a humble, polite individual, a man who sticks to his word without any bullshit.

      Markus Epkenhans

      Sep 22, 2011 at 6:26pm

      @Philip

      Yes, this is happening NOW, around all of us. Overfishing and ocean pollution are at their worst in Europe and around USA. Absolutely everyone should do something if we want to live on this earth for a little longer.

      aaron johnson

      Aug 5, 2012 at 4:56am

      plain and simple this guy is a CRIMINAL who should be punished harshly for his illegal activities