The Cove, a new documentary about the slaughter of dolphins in a secluded cove in the Japanese coastal town of Taiji, takes an unconventional approach to the non-fiction form.

Setting out with a mission to expose the brutal killing of dolphins for food, a clandestine industry that many Japanese know nothing about, the filmmakers had to treat the project almost like a bank robbery. A team was assembled, each member bringing a specific expertise to the table, and they repeatedly braved arrest or worse as they dodged secret agents and other obstacles thrown in their path en route to completing the film.

While the subject may be disturbing, the film's rating is merely PG-13 because, as the Times review puts it, of "blood in the water and tears in the eye." But this film is less about shock value than education, and the filmmakers' choice to create it as a thriller strikes me as the perfect way to encourage people to see it without merely fetishizing the very thing it aims to expose. No animal snuff film this.