Orca: Killer Whale Or Gentle Giant?

Produced by Nippon TV, this interesting documentary asks whether the "orca" or "killer" whale has gotten a bum rap. Filmed in and around the Johnson Straights off the coast of Vancouver, the program features excellent underwater footage of these huge creatures, as well as some enlightening commentary about the work of Hiroya Minakuchi, who has spent five summers studying the orca whales in Canada. At the Vancouver Public Aquarium, viewers see an orca whale with specific literary tastes: the whale will press up against the glass to gaze in rapture at a "whale" picture book, but shows no interest in other literature. Out on the water, Minakuchi and his camera crew follows pods of orca whales as they majestically breach for passing ferries. In one scene a crew member reaches into the water and catches a small shark by the tail (a feat we've never witnessed before). The climax of the program comes when Minakuchi is finally able to realize his dream of filming a strange underwater rubbing ritual that the orca whales perform at one particular beach: the orcas gather speed, dip down, and slide on their sides across the pebbly ocean bottom: why they do so, is not presently known. This is a beautiful documentary that explodes old myths and paints the "killer" whale in a new, more gentle, light. Highly recommended. (Available from: The Video Project, 5332 College Ave., Suite 101, Oakland, CA 94618.)