A local writer was so horrified after watching a movie about the slaughter of dolphins in Japan she began a one-woman crusade to bring the film to Bermuda.

Due to her efforts environmental documentary 'The Cove' will be shown this month by the Bermuda International Film Festival (BIFF).

"The environmental group 'Sea Shepherd' was circulating a video clip that turned out to be a clip from the movie 'The Cove'," said Mrs. Walters, who works for The Royal Gazette. "I went online and did some research."

"In Taiji, Japan, these creatures were trapped, shot and beaten to death .

"Despite their high levels of mercury, dolphin meat was being sold for meat — or worse, donated to Japanese schools as lunch meat."

The oceans around industrialised countries like China and Japan are highly polluted. Pollutants like PCBs, mercury, cadmium and lead are dumped into the environment at extraordinary rates.

A United Nations study in 2003 found that through burning fossil fuels like coal, mercury is rising in the environment at the rate of 1.4 to three percent per year.

Hundreds of samples of dolphin meat were tested around Japan and found to be toxic. Some internal organ meat being sold in Taiji was found to have 5,000 times more mercury than Japanese health authorities allowed.

"Dolphins are like toxic sponges," said Mrs. Walters.

She e-mailed the producers about whether the movie was going to be shown in Bermuda.

She was put in touch with the distributor who popped a copy of the film in the mail that same day.

'The Cove' was recently shown at the Japanese Film Festival, where there was a mixed reaction.

"From what I can see online, a lot of Japanese people don't believe the film," said Mrs. Walters. "It was happening in their own backyard and they didn't know about it.

"A lot of people are in denial up to this point."

She said the strongest reaction from the Japanese was probably over the fact that the dolphin meat was being given to children.

Much of the dolphin meat in Japan is also mislabelled or sold as counterfeit whale meat, which sells for more money.

One of the participants in 'The Cove' was Ric O'Barry, former dolphin trainer on the old television series 'Flipper'.

"Over the years he has come to realise that dolphins are wild animals and shouldn't be kept in tanks," said Mrs. Walters. "They are social creatures.

"One fateful day, a heartbroken O'Barry came to realise that these deeply sensitive, highly intelligent and self-aware creatures so beautifully adapted to life in the open ocean must never be subjected to human captivity again."

On this mission, Mr. O'Barry visited Taiji, Japan, a town that appeared to be devoted to the wonders and mysteries of the sleek, playful dolphins and whales that swam off their coast.

But in a remote, glistening cove, surrounded by barbed wire and Keep Out signs, lay a dark reality.

It was there, under cover of night, that the fishermen of Taiji, driven by a multi-billion dollar dolphin entertainment industry and an underhanded market for mercury-tainted dolphin meat, engaged in an unseen hunt.

"The nature of what they did was so chilling and the consequences were so dangerous to human health that they went to great lengths to stay hidden from the public eye," said Mrs. Walters.

The film captures the fisherman slaughtering the dolphins who are caught in the cove. The water can be seen turning red.

Mr. O'Barry joined forces with filmmaker Louis Psihoyos and the Ocean Preservation Society to get to the truth of what really went on in the cove and why it mattered to people outside Japan.

With the local Chief of Police hot on their trail and strong-arm fishermen keeping tabs on them, they recruited an Oceans Eleven-style team of underwater sound and camera experts, special effects artists, marine explorers, adrenaline junkies and world-class free divers to carry out an undercover operation to photograph the off-limits cove, while playing a cloak-and-dagger game with those who would have them jailed.

The resulting film has been described as "a provocative mix of investigative journalism, eco-adventure and arresting imagery that adds up to an urgent plea for hope".

Mrs. Walters said 'The Cove' set new standards for other environmental films.

"It is like a Hollywood blockbuster," said Mrs. Walters. "The guys in the film use nightvision goggles. They climb over fences. They use deep dive guys to go underwater with cameras.

"They definitely broke laws to make the movie. The Japanese government still has arrest warrants out against them if they ever set foot on Japanese soil again."

When Mrs. Walters first approached BIFF about showing 'The Cove', they were a bit unsure of whether the film would work in Bermuda.

"As soon as BIFF director Aideen Ratteray-Pryse saw the film she called me and said it will be on November 19. She said 'we have to show this. It has to be done'."

Mrs. Walters said the film is disturbing for people who love animals, but she hoped people would see it.

"I hope they will be moved by it," she said. "Afterward they can go to the website to see what they can do. There are also points on how you can help raise awareness."

'The Cove' is directed by Louie Psihoyos and produced by Paula DuPre Pesmen and Fisher Stevens. The film is written by Mark Monroe. The executive producer is Jim Clark and the co-producer is Olivia Ahnemann.

'The Cove' will be shown on November 19 at 6.30 p.m. and 8.30 p.m. (the film is 92 minutes) at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute (BUEI). Tickets will be $10 ($8 for BIFF Film Club members) and are available at the door one hour before the screening time.

For information or to make a reservation, email info@biff.bm.