The Walrus and The Whistleblower
“Life is short. Steal a walrus.” - Phil Demers
Anyone growing up in Ontario, Canada has, at one point or another, had the MarineLand jingle stuck in their heads. While the lyrics have changed over the years from riding rollercoasters to kissing sea lions, every iteration of the song ends with “Everyone loves MarineLand.” The marine park has attracted hundreds of thousands of tourists to Niagara Falls, driving tourism and bringing economic growth to the region. Now, thanks to Phil Demers, loving MarineLand has gotten a lot more complicated.
Nathalie Bibeau’s documentary The Walrus and The Whistleblower, fresh out of Hot Docs – where the film had won the coveted Audience Award – is the Canadian Blackfish. Of course, the world now knows that keeping cetaceans in captivity is detrimental to their wellbeing. Attendance at SeaWorld has dropped and Canada has banned keeping whales and dolphins in captivity through Bill S-203; but what about those animals still in marine parks that aren’t categorised as cetaceans? What about the seals, the sea lions, the walruses? MarineLand also happens to have a horde of black bears and a fleet of fallow deer, along with other land animals. Phil Demers’ answer is to free those too.
Demers previously worked as a trainer at MarineLand for twelve years. During his time at the park, he developed a relationship with a walrus named Smooshi, who came to MarineLand as a wild-caught infant. It is explained that Smooshi got her name because she liked to “smoosh” her face into people as a way of saying hello to those she loves. Demers imprinted on Smooshi: she saw him as her mother with the duo sharing a deep and special bond through the years. They even went viral and videos of Demers and Smooshi exploded all around the internet, until suddenly Demers had a change of heart. By 2012, Demers had grown tired of the way the animals at MarineLand were treated. He quit, and soon became a whistleblower – which is at least ironic, since his job as a trainer had literally required him to blow whistles at the animals – bringing reports of animal abuse from behind the scenes of MarineLand to the general public.
The Walrus and The Whistleblower details these events, its focus always being on Smooshi and Demers. However, the documentary also explores a number of related issues. Bibeau makes sure to provide a history of the MarineLand origin, taking a look at the park’s owner and Demers’ arch-nemesis, John Holer. The director also makes sure to chronicle Demers’ involvement in getting Bill S-203 to pass, seen as a starting point that will hopefully one day protect all marine animals, including Smooshi. The Walrus and The Whistleblower is always a wild ride; in every scene Demers gains more news about MarineLand, whether it be about yet another animal passing away under questionable circumstances, or more correspondence from MarineLand. On top of everything, Phil is sued for speaking out.
Of course at its core, The Walrus and The Whistleblower is about Phil Demers’ fight to free Smooshi – a fight that Demers has been fighting for almost a decade. Every day he uses his Twitter platform (@walruswhisperer) to advocate for Smooshi’s freedom. He also relays all the news he manages to obtain from behind MarineLand’s concrete fence, and chronicles the lawsuit MarineLand launched against him. Nathalie Bibeau uses beautiful cinematography to convey how trapped Demers feels in this all-out war with MarineLand. A lone Demers floating in a swimming pool, a naked Demers in a shallow bathtub. This mainly symbolises cetaceans being trapped in very small enclosures, but the subject here happens to be Demers, so it applies to his journey too.
Another fascinating choice that Bibeau makes with The Walrus and The Whistleblower is the inclusion of Mama the Cat, a stray calico Demers and his girlfriend, Christine Santos, took in that used to live at MarineLand. Santos is also a former MarineLand trainer, working closely with Kiska, the park’s last remaining orca. With no way of interacting with Smooshi and Kiska, Mama acts as Demers and Santos’ only connection to MarineLand’s animals. Mama makes her way into almost every frame as Bibeau interviews Demers and Santos at their Niagara Falls home. Mama also acts as the current face of MarineLand’s animals, as all the footage of Smooshi, Kiska and the others are home videos. MarineLand did not permit Bibeau to film on its premises. Pets are the first animals that people love; through Mama, there is the opportunity to have the same love and respect for MarineLand’s animals because of her connection to them.
The Walrus and The Whistleblower never reaches a satisfying conclusion because the fight to save Smooshi still rages on. Smooshi is still being held captive by MarineLand, with little information provided about her wellbeing. Phil Demers is still being sued by MarineLand, always at the forefront of trying to take this piece of cruel entertainment down. By including MarineLand’s history and the several parliament’s processes concerning the case, The Walrus and The Whistleblowers fleshes out the relationship between Phil and Smooshi, leaving no room to argue against Demers’ cause. The Walrus and The Whistleblower is meant to reignite the fight to save Smooshi, and in that sense, the film truly excels.