A moving account of freedom challenging oppression through sacrifice, courage, determination and suffering. The valiant and tragic story of Tibetans taking up arms to defend their nation and culture may sit uneasily next the 'Shangri-la' image of popular western imagination yet the myth of Tibet as a non-violent and passive victim to communist China's brutal occupation demanded public exposure.

Q+A with author Peter Heller

How did you first meet Paul Watson, founder of the radical environmental group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society?
Peter Heller: I was at the Mountainfilm in Telluride festival, and someone pointed him out to me. When I met him, the first thing Watson told me was, "I sunk half the Norwegian whaling fleet, half the Spanish whaling fleet." If he wanted to get press on the hook, he did.


Isn't what he's doing basically illegal?
Various nations around the world, including Japan, Russia, Norway, even the U.S. fisheries have leveled charges of piracy against Watson. To the extent that he assaults ships on the high seas, they have a point. He is extremely aggressive; he says that his mission is to physically intervene to uphold international law. He is very proud of the fact that he has never injured anybody on his crew or anybody else's crew.

Do you think Watson cares whether or not he is within the bounds of the law?
His point of view is that he destroys property used in illegal activity. Later that day, in Telluride, he gave a talk and near the end he said, "I don't give a damn what you think of me, my clients are the seals and the whales and the turtles." I heard that speech and saw how the crowed was absolutely silent and thought—I've got to do a story on this guy.


But this is a dangerous way to think, abiding by a "higher calling" ....
Everything he does, he does to ships that are in some way or another breaking international or environmental law. The Japanese are exploiting a loophole called "scientific whaling" to take commercial amounts of whales. They're in clear violation of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, so they are in clear violation of laws. Now, whether attacking these ships on the high seas is piracy or not is definitely an open question.


Then is what Watson doing a necessary illegality? Do you think he's a pirate?
I think at least 50,000 species a year are being dispatched into the dark by habitat loss, global warming, pollution, overpopulation, and bad planning. The oceans are, right now, by all accounts, on the verge of total ecosystem collapse. Given the fact that there are 6.5 billion people on Earth, and the oceans cover something like 75 percent of the planet's surface, it is kind of startling to me that there's only one ship that's roving over the seas willing to uphold international and environmental law at the risk of their lives. So I find it startling, amazing, and admirable in some ways; I'm glad they're there. When they start hurting and killing people, ask me again.


Is there a reason that Watson and crew have honed in on whales, when so many of the ocean's species are suffering?
People really connect with whales; they're a charismatic species. And the whaling industry brings in over a billion dollars a year. Watson's point is that if we can't save whales—whose populations are, by all accounts, one to three percent of what they were before commercial whaling—how are we going to save anything else?

Phoques, Le Film