>there's a great moment where former trainers acknowledge their
>naiveté, realizing any bonds they had with the orcas were
>superficial. a highly intelligent animal, performing dumb
>parlor tricks for snacks? that was out of boredom and hunger
>in captivity, and only arrogance would make one assume
>otherwise.

The film certainly seems to be arguing that if humans hadn't psychologically damaged those orcas and subsequently used a psychotic's sperm for breeding, those trainers would be alive.

It makes two arguments and conflates them: 1. These aquatic park owners subject these animals to cruel behavior. 2. These tortured animals in close proximity with humans was inevitably going to result in death. Both 1 and 2 are obviously true, but I tend to side more with you that mixing huge smart animals we can't control with humans is an accident waiting to happen, regardless of how the animals were treated in captivity.

Our arrogance and presumption of "control" is still pretty fully on display with some of the thin logic strands presented. "Orcas have never killed people in the wild." Okay, well, how often do orcas and humans interact in the water in the wild? And since orcas have only killed three people in the last two/three decades in captivity with daily exposure to one another, how can one immediately assume that wouldn't happen in the open ocean with equal exposure?

I agree that the film presents a portrait of human arrogance and naivete regarding our presumption of control and our "understanding" of what they think/feel/etc. However, I think the filmmakers are trying to sculpt a very pointed narrative, focusing most of their attention on SeaWorld's treatment of the animals and their subsequent lies regarding orca behavior, as if they are exclusively at fault. The former trainers interviewed are given far more screen time to diss SeaWorld than they are to acknowledge the simple fact that big smart animals and humans shouldn't mix. Many of them wax nostalgic about their relationships and trust they had in their respective orca partner, without following it up with "of course, this relationship is exclusively in my head, as who the fuck knows what a whale's motivations are."

Still a pretty compelling doc, even if I found its main argument dicey. Plus, some of the wilderness footage and the archival footage is pretty breathtaking.