Nobody
should understand better than an environmentalist our world is not a closed
system. Every action has a resulting reaction. Yet, two very different
environmentalists are surprised by the consequences of their respective
campaigns to save the Amazon’s pink river dolphin in Mark Grieco’s documentary,
A River Below (trailer here), which opens
tomorrow in New York.
The
pink river dolphin, a.k.a. bota, is a peaceful and intelligent creature that
really shouldn’t be slaughtered to use as bait for piracatinga fish (or mota
fish, as it is known in Colombia). To drive the point home, Brazilian wildlife
TV host Richard Rasmussen secretly filmed a group of fishermen catching and
slaughtering a pregnant bota. It was not pretty, especially when he gave the
footage to Brazil’s top-rated newsmagazine. A few days later, Brazil passed a
five-year ban on piracatinga fishing to mollify an outraged nation. Meanwhile, marine
biologist Fernando Trujillo goes on Colombian television to explain it is a
really bad idea to eat mota fish anyway, because of its sky-high mercury
contamination rates.
At
this point, Rasmussen is feeling pretty proud of himself, so he resents it when
Grieco starts asking awkward questions. It turns out, Rasmussen recruited and
paid the fishermen to conduct their dolphin hunt, which he directed off-camera.
They had been promised Rasmussen would never publicly release his footage. He
would only use it with the government in an effort to develop better bait for their
use.
However,
Rasmussen betrayed their trust, abandoning them on their own to face the
resulting national scorn, death threats from fish wholesalers, and the total
loss of their livelihoods. Meanwhile, Trujillo starts receiving his own death
threats from similar fishing interests, after becoming the public face of the
mota fish-mercury educational campaign.
Grieco
deserve tremendous credit for not backing down and following leads as they
sprung up. It probably would have been easier to make a one-dimensional film
about saving dolphins (again, saving them would be a good thing to do), but
instead, he duly explores the consequences of drive-by activism.
It
is clear Rasmussen never intended to return to that beleaguered fishing village,
until he is shamed into it by Grieco’s inquiries. In contrast, Trujillo emerges
as a genuinely ethical and empathetic environmentalist. Visiting the distressed
piracatinga fisherman incognito with Grieco, the scientist telling reflects on
how “completely alone” they are with their troubles.
Whether
he intended to or not, Grieco ultimately raises questions regarding the general
approach of contemporary environmentalism. Developed Western nations have
sufficiently robust economies and educated, socially-mobile work forces to roll
with rigid regulatory prohibitions. That is simply not the case in the desperately
poor Amazon. It is simply not realistic to expect the piracatinga fisherman to
move to Rio and become web designers. Any curtailment of natural resource-based
employment that is not coupled with an offsetting economic development strategy
is just plain cruel. Eventually, Rasmussen learns that lesson the hard way—on-camera.
Grieco’s
documentary also challenges viewers to question overly simplistic media
narratives. Unfortunately, it will be an uphill struggle to alter people’s
blind acceptance of the media of their choice. People are addicted to the cheap
dopamine fix they get from feeling morally superior and signing a change.org
petition. Like Rasmussen, the last thing they want to do is examine the
potential human consequences of their enlightened policy demands. At least River makes a good faith effort to
encourage viewers to give matters deeper thought. It is a legitimately inconvenient
film that refuses to ignore messy truths. Very highly recommended, A River Below opens tomorrow (11/3) in
New York, at the Village East.
