At the Edge of the World

The Farley Mowat and Robert Hunter fly a defiant flag in today’s international waters: the skull and crossbones. Paul Watson—who is familiar to Mountainfilm audiences as the founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society—is the captain and commander of these ships and doesn’t apologize for the Jolly Roger flags or his renegade methods. He believes his approach is the best method to end the slaughter of whales in the southern seas. In this film, Watson has assembled a crew of earnest, but often inexperienced, volunteers to travel with him to Antarctic waters. They are in pursuit of the Japanese whaling vessels that kill the endangered marine mammal for purported “scientific research.” This battle on the high seas culminates when one of the Sea Shepherd ships rams a Japanese boat, a harrowing maneuver that only a pirate would try. —EL