Vanishing of the Bees
In recent years the documentary has been major business at the box office, becoming one of the most popular genres of film, also proving successful in the renting market.
These movies take us all around the world bringing us new ideas as well as brining us closer to nature.
But it's the message documentaries that have been streaming into cinemas recently and The Cove is just the latest that uncovers horrible truths that have tried to be covered up.
In Taiji, Japan, former dolphin trainer Ric O'Barry has come to set things right after a long search for redemption. In the 1960s, it was O'Barry who captured and trained the 5 dolphins who played the title character in the international television sensation "Flipper."
One fateful day, a heartbroken Barry came to realize that these deeply sensitive, highly intelligent and self-aware creatures must never be subjected to human captivity again. This mission has brought him to Taiji, a town that appears to be devoted to the wonders and mysteries of the sleek, playful dolphins and whales that swim off their coast.
But in a remote, glistening cove, surrounded by barbed wire and "Keep Out" signs, lies a dark reality. It is here, 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, engage in an unseen hunt.
The nature of what they do is so chilling and the consequences are so dangerous to human health that they will go to great lengths to halt anyone from seeing it.
But The Cove is the second movie in as many weeks that has brought the plight of the natural world to the big screen with filmmakers dedicating years to a cause that they feel so strongly about.
The Vanishing of the Bees, which was released in September, was another movie that looking at the natural world as filmmakers George Langworthy and Maryam Henein highlighting the depleting number of bees and the reasons behind their dropping numbers, mainly being caused by man.
But the documentary format has been a great way to for filmmakers, and sometime politicians and actors, to highlight the problem with the planet.
All this started back in 2006 when United States Vice President Al Gore brought the problems of global warming to the big screen in a bid to educate the masses.
The film premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and went on to be a critical and commercial success. An Inconvenient Truth won Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature and for Best Original Song.
Leonardo DiCaprio brought his environmental movie to the big screen in the form of The 11th Hour. Narrated by the Oscar winning actor the movie highlighted the grave problems facing the planet's life systems including global warming, deforestation, mass species extinction.
A Crude Awakening looked at the depleting levels of oil while The End of the Line highlighted the problem of over fishing.
Michael Moore has made his career out of making documentary movies with the likes of Sicko, which looked at issues with the American health service and Bowling For Columbine which looked at the causes for the Columbine High School massacre and other acts of violence with guns.
The documentary movie has become a major outlet for filmmaker to highlight problems and subjects that are either being ignored or the general public do not know about and this trend looks set to continue as people flock to see them.
The Cove is released 23rd October.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw