Blackfish Documentary Controversial: Sea World Fights Back, Calls Film "Inaccurate" Portrayal Of Captive Killer Whales, "Exploitive" Of Death Of Trainer

The Blackfish documentary is a critically-accalimed documentary that examines practices at SeaWorld. It also will likely be highly controversial.

Gabriela Cowperthwaite, the Blackfish documentary's director, was a mom who took her kids to SeaWorld and witnessed the death a killer whale's trainer.

The incident sparked the "Blackfish" documentary, her latest project, which seeks to answer questions about a top trainer at SeaWorld also became the victim of the killer whale she took care of and performed with.

As the film panned out, though, its scope is broader; it examines the consequences of keeping killer whales trapped in captivity. It has garnered comparisons to The Cove, which is about the killing of dolphins in Japan and won an Oscar in 2009.

SeaWorld is striking back against the documentary, calling it "inaccurate and misleading," and saying it paints "a distorted picture." Sea World also excused the film of capitalizing on the trainer who lost her life, it exploits "a tragedy that remains a source of deep pain for Dawn Brancheau's family, friends and colleagues."

Brancheau was killed after being pulled under the water by the great orca, Tilikum, at SeaWorld in Orlando in 2010.. "Blackfish" traces the story of Tilikum,

Their protests make sense, in that the Hollywood Reporter called the film "emotionally powerful" and "a damning indictment of the SeaWorld theme park franchise."

Copperthwaite said she doesn't "come from animal activism" and that she didn't mean to be critical of SeaWorld specifically.

"I don't come from animal activism - I am a mother who took her kids to SeaWorld," said Cowperthwaite, 42. "I thought (the Brancheau) incident was a one-off. In my mind, I was going to make a larger philosophical film about human beings and our relationships with our animal counterparts."

However, throughout her film, she found that the whale was involved in other killings and that it seems to have come from the stress of the circumstances he was place in after his capture and the training he got.

Cowperthwaite hopes that "Blackfish" will inspire others to take action, wherever they are, and to examine things beyond the obvious.

"I hope future generations will become more agile in seeing past veneers," she told press.

 View the TRAILER below