MovieChat Forums > Racing Extinction (2015) Discussion > A Completely Dishonest Documentary (as T...

A Completely Dishonest Documentary (as The Cove was by the way)


A documentary is supposed to document and inform but this film is
just the opposite of what a documentary should be. Among the most
ridiculous things of the film:

- Instead of focusing on one aspect, the documentary goes in circle
presenting all the ways we as humans are managing to destroy the Earth
ecosystem. It presents points already made by several other
documentaries but without stating anything new.

- It presents some valid points about what's wrong with the way we
treat animals, and how we have screwed up at a global scale, but when it
comes to finger pointing at actual people, they prefer to go blame some
remote village of Indonesia where people hunt manta rays in order to
survive as they find it difficult to grow plants in there. The message
seems to be: the world is screwed but let's start fixing it by ruining
some countryside people's livelihood. Killing manta rays is wrong, they
are cute, they are innocent, but leaving people starve and live in poor
conditions, that's fine. Who cares?

- In the same village, they show these fishermen go out fishing on
their little boat, struggling to catch the manta, doing everything with
their bare hands, and audience is supposed to feel sad? The commentator
even tries to convince us that we should be disgusted by the fact that the
fisherman kills the manta by sticking a long knife in its brain.
Perhaps, for the wealthy western commentator, it is easier just to walk in
the supermarket, buy his plastic-packaged minced meat of an animal that
he never saw alive, doesn't know in what miserable conditions it lived and
doesn't even know how it was killed. That hunting scene actually just makes
one respecting more these fishermen.

- Shall we talk about the white guy that saves a poor manta ray caught
into a fishnet or something? Oh yes, he is the big hero. So
cheesy. Cheesy as the director being interviewed and crying in front of
the camera. Actually that's not cheesy, that's just dishonest. I don't
doubt that he was crying for real, but you are the director of the film
for god sake. You should be honest enough to leave that part out.

- Why this kind of activist documentaries are always one sided? They
find all the possible western people to interview to support their
statement, but they cannot get some Asian experts to stand up for the
poor people?

- If killing whales and dolphins is wrong, why before traveling to the
East, they don't travel within the USA (Alaska for example) or Northern
Europe? Perhaps because they speak English, are well educated, and it
is going to be more difficult to sell their dishonest activism?

- When it comes to criticize the western society, they use some stock
footage or they leave it to the commentator to describe how bad the
western world is. But when it's about China or Indonesia, they use
cheap tricks of hidden cameras to film poor and uneducated people that
don't know how to defend themselves with words as they obviously are
not able to debate and express their point of view with clarity. Why
they don't go bother the big western corporations with hidden cameras
and annoying interviews?

- In fact, why they don't even bother dubbing the interviewed Asian
people but leave it to unreadable white subtitles on white background?

- Towards the end, the documentary turns out to be just an
advertisement campaign for Tesla cars. And be clear, I support Tesla
and would love to own one, but it just felt like Tesla came out of the
blue. There was no point to put it in the film in my opinion.

Environmental activism is a good thing. Especially with the filmmaking support.
But when one does it with intellectual dishonesty, it does more harm than good.

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good points, i hate these kind of documentarys, it makes me question wheter their points are legit or just promotion for their own companies who are of course the good guys against the bad nuclear energy who will sweep in and safe us all

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Thanks. Anyone who is promoting themselves over "bad" nuclear energy has a self-promoting axe to grind which can be ignored (not surprising if you know anything of Elon Musk, who enjoys finding new ways to fleece the American Taxpayer with "Bold Schemes To Put Fire In Men's Blood!!")

Yes, that latter part was wholly snark.

Nuclear power is what we should be doing whole-hog right now, using state of the art technology and dispersed systems.

That they continue to push idiocy like wind and solar, which, AT BEST only hide their vast pollution from you by exporting it to China is shameful.

All I need to say about Nuclear waste is that, yes, it's deadly for about 10,000 to 20,000 years (after which its radioactivity level has decayed to lower than that of NATURALLY OCCURRING deposits of ores, which is the REAL point of balance, not "zero" radioactivity). A rational person would grasp that we can site our storage AT LEAST as well as the random rills of the stuff that nature has created), and there are definite technologies for storing it safely for at least that long, and probably much much longer.

Contrast to both wind and solar, the former of which produces extensive and toxic mine tailings, the latter of which is much worse, as solar cells are a process no different from computer chips, which produce some of the most toxic wastes of anything humans do.

And THESE toxins, well, they are around and toxic FOREVER....

BUT HEY, all that's off in CHINA poisoning little CHINESE babies, so WTF should any American white liberal care? See no evil, there is no evil. Imagine evil, THERE IT IS!!!

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This post is here to negate some of the lies that are being spread in this thread.

@harlemblues
Some can't handle that there is good to be had in society, because they're bad and the only way they're bad is if someone else is doing good.

First about the movie;
This obviously is not a movie to explain a certain side to the business, this is a movie set to inspire people to take action and engage - and by the trailer it does just that.
IF this had been a movie which is supposed to explain the working of a certain area in particular you might have been right.
I do however agree that the people to blame should be found, regressives have allmost annihilated humanity and moving forward would be easier without those in positions of power.

"...we should be disgusted by the fact that the
fisherman kills the manta by sticking a long knife in its brain."

This tells me you are an astroturfer. Especially followed up with comparing a wild fish to domesticated animals regarding their potential value for humanity.

"Cheesy as the director being interviewed and crying in front of
the camera. Actually that's not cheesy, that's just dishonest. I don't
doubt that he was crying for real, but you are the director of the film
for god sake. You should be honest enough to leave that part out."


Seriously what is wrong with you? Sold your soul and sad because not everyone else has..? Be a man and live up to your part.

"- Why this kind of activist documentaries are always one sided? They
find all the possible western people to interview to support their
statement, but they cannot get some Asian experts to stand up for the
poor people?"


One sided? Because on the other side there are trillion dollar industries consisting of billion dollar companies and conglomerates that manipulate the information wildly even creating false people initiatives to lobby as the "people" to politicians.

"- If killing whales and dolphins is wrong, why before traveling to the
East, they don't travel within the USA (Alaska for example) or Northern
Europe? Perhaps because they speak English, are well educated, and it
is going to be more difficult to sell their dishonest activism?"


-Most of the western whale hunting is dead and what still exists is highly regulated, if you got evidence it is not feel free to present it here with sources.
The difference to for an example Japan and other illegal asian fishingfleets that circle the globe on international waters having unreggulated equiptment which clears the ocean (yes netmesh etc is regulated for western countries) from everything is staggering.

"- When it comes to criticize the western society, they use some stock
footage or they leave it to the commentator to describe how bad the
western world is. But when it's about China or Indonesia, they use
cheap tricks of hidden cameras to film poor and uneducated people that
don't know how to defend themselves with words as they obviously are
not able to debate and express their point of view with clarity. Why
they don't go bother the big western corporations with hidden cameras
and annoying interviews?"


You finally got a point, the thing is in US which is completely overrun by fascism now they outlaw things like that because the companies own the politicians. However there is still being made tons nonetheless because there is good in the world.
The reason i believe they do it in this movie is because it's easier to point the finger elsewhere, it's easier to swallow that someone else is the problem - a very cheap and dishonest trick to get people to engage, hopefully that engagement will lead people to actually realise the true story.

However, when it comes to killing (and being responsible for the annihilation of what still exists when it comes to endangered species) threatened spieces the asian countries are way ahead of others as they still propagate their old medicine arts. To turn it around you most likely need to firstly inform people about the diwndling number of animals, establish a regulated herbal/remedy market and root out the illegal practises (which is a sore point as it's people in power that gains from these markets, make no misstake).


Let's now play spot the Astroturfer @CorumJI.

Nuclear power is not what we should be doing, fusion is what we should be doing and during the swap we'll need the Torium reactors to "kill off" the huge loads of waste which are not payed for and a huge problem if you actually account for SAFE storage of it (and I dont mean copparcylinders buried in concrete a few miles down and then hope for geolocial calm while the radioactivity decreases.

Solar (read; fusion) is the future, big corps know it (look to the investments), those deplying HVDC in large scale know it and the middleclass is starting to understand that. What is out there for grabs right now is the control of the future market, right now consumers can swap over and make a red post in their economy a black - that is why you will see astroturfers propagate all other means of energy. That even though the theoretical roof of efficiency has been broken (you can achieve 99.9... efficiency in solarpanels, not affordable yet) while it still is only in its infancy (normal solarsystems give 10-20% efficiency, technology for mass producing solarpanels that gives 40% and higher exist TODAY) and it's allready beating the regressive's fossile fuel in cost (even excluding the cost to humanity for fossile fuels), what do you think it'll do once it's 5 times as effective - only torium (due to formentioned quality) will stand a chance in the forseeable future.

Solar do produce waste while you make the panels, but even comparing it to fossile in waste is really retarded as they are not even on the same chart...
But feel free to post a lifecycle analysis from a neutral party (none fossile positive source or politician bought thereof).

The only reason to put Tesla in is because it's part of the solution not the problem, if people can decide where their energy comes from the market will change. The problem is IF they don't mention other electric alternatives like the Nissan Leaf which is a car affordable to a normal family and that can manage 170-210km in reallife traffic, ad to that the quick and rapidly decreasing times of chargers the future is here today.

Ignorance is only a bliss if you haven't reached awareness.
My imdb posts are getting altered.

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This was a dishonest review of the film. The manta rays were not being hunted for their meat. Manta rays are listed as a vulnerable species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and they're being hunted for their gills to be used in Chinese medicine. Manta ray populations have declined by one-third in recent years, and they're dying to feed an industry of unproven medicine. If the gills (or rhino horns or tiger bones or any number of other animal parts) actually cured cancer or the chickenpox like these sellers claim, scientists could study the parts to isolate the active ingredients. We could do this in a sustainable way, but it's not being done because it's not truly medicinal. This hunting is being done in India, Sri Lanka, India, Peru and China, so no, I'm not going to feel sorry for the one small village they filmed. You can't compare it to "walking in the supermarket, buy his plastic-packaged minced meat of an animal that he never saw alive, doesn't know in what miserable conditions it lived and doesn't even know how it was killed" because 1) we're not factory farming vulnerable or endangered species and 2) they're not hunting the manta rays for meat.

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I totally agree, killing sheeps, goats, chickens for food is acceptable, because its in our foodchain and source for most needed protein. I know it feels like they're so innocent to kill like that, but that is way for human unlike tigers, lions hunt their prey in the wild. These animals never go extinct, not under the human watch. Because since the time of human came to exist, till now, these livestock animals' 'born and died' count exceeds more than any other species ever lived on the earth, including human. But my point is live stock depends on plants, so plants may go extinct if the livestock number rise. The solution is balance your diet like thrice a week meat and remaining days as a vegan.

You better know what you want to do before somebody knows it for you -The Astronaut Farmer

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You're conveniently leaving out huge parts of this film. It begins with busting a sushi restaurant in the USA that is serving whale.

I didn't feel the manta ray fishermen were vilified at all. They showed how the entire village & family members participate by chopping up & cleaning the parts. The guy who speared the manta ray by diving off the boat? Clearly these are incredibly brave, hard-working people! They're also people who understand that the manta ray population is declining & this isn't a sustainable industry for their families.

The film showed another community (Isla de Mujre?) where manta ray hunting used to be the source of income & were able to transition to tourism - which now makes far more money for the village. That beach in Indonesia is beautiful. I'd love to go there & pay to do a snorkel tour to swim with the manta rays. But if tourists are walking on a beach filled with blood & guts as they chop up the rays, I can't imagine many going back.

As for Tesla, they donated the car that was used to drive around projecting the images on the buildings. I'm not sure how you could have missed that or why you would say there was "no point" to including it.

The point is another example of ONE PERSON doing one thing to make a difference.

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The film showed how the village is becoming a tourist destination. They stopped hunting manta rays for idiotic the reason of believing the gills cure cancer and other ailments, and are now appreciating the beauty of the animal and respecting it's life and making money doing so. And I think they had Elon Musk and Tesla in there to show there is another way, & here's a guy who's risking everything to do so.

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Thank you! Apperently he missed the part where they are helping turn this place into tourism. The OP is a moron. Plus the fact that he's defending China and offended that they are filming them. Well who freaking cares!? They're being filmed because they're uneducated morons that don't appreciate life and killing animals for BS remedies. "Oh my God, they're filming people who are screwing up the ecosystem. Stop oppressing the Chinese"...sorry guy, I think you missed the whole point of the documentary.

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Also maybe you forgot the segment of "Western" cows producing methane. Now you can stop crying that they didn't film the "West".

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I have not yet seen this movie and, since I do not know you personally, I will assume your review was done with the best of intentions regarding the fight against human abuses toward nature and all of its creatures. However, I think your one-star, long-winded appraisal is doing this cause a complete disservice. This movie is not meant to be "entertainment", as such. Rather, I see it as an (another) attempt to touch as many people as possible within a wide range of ages, cultures, etc. by showing them snapshots of the horrors committed all over the planet to animals, defenseless against well-armed, ill-intentioned people. And, I suspect, in the best way they thought would work while addressing censorship issues and the general public's lack of care. Don't you think it is more important to focus on these crimes than shaming the director, producer, or whoever for crying, or whether "a white guy" saved a manta ray? Should they have called you first to ask which race you would find socially acceptable? Have you ever even tried to create/sell such a film yourself or do you just make counter-productive, off-kilter comments in hopes of some kind of notoriety? Because the type of one size fits all, honest, in-depth documentary you're suggesting would take more time to even view than the public has or is willing to give to practically anything, unless it's "fun". And lets face it, there is nothing fun about this topic. This movie is at least making an effort - which I believe is the common theme here - even with its "flaws". A snapshot for those that are blissfully unaware and don't want to be bothered. At least that is my take on it from what I've read and from the preview. If you have better ideas, PLEASE make such a movie yourself. But, even though you have the right to your opinion, in my opinion, you're deflecting from the greater purpose of this endeavor. So again, if you truly want to "help", spend your valuable time doing your part - no matter how small - to fix these problems, rather than only focusing on what you consider politically correct or popular.

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Scientists and so called experts have been making bogus and nonsensical predictions for centuries. More often than not, it seems like their grasp extends beyond the reach of their own intellects.

Really, there's nothing to actually validate or lend any credibility any of the claims/predictions made by the documentary.

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Environmentalism is a religion, do not blaspheme, Animals don't taste delicious, give us your money so we can spend it on activism but not soap.
I hate Signatures so much!

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I seriously hope the OP wakes up.

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