Customer Reviews
"For those with ears..." - By: L. Neira, 22 Jan 2008 
In Eye of the Dolphin, Alyssa (Carly Schroeder) is a troubled teen. She's recently lost her mother & is in trouble in school (and wearing way too much make-up so we know she's troubled). When her grandmother can do no more for her, she takes Alyssa to the Bahamas to meet the father she never knew she had (and vice versa). Her father, Dr. James Hawk (Adrian Dunbar), is researching dolphin communication in hope of being able to understand them. Alyssa & her father must find a way to rescue her life from the edge of catastrophe. However, can they also rescue each other from their own troubles?
OK, that sounds a lot like some kind of after school special. And in many ways, it is. That isn't saying anything bad about it, but it does have a target audience of teens & parents. Such a film may not develop characters & relationships as fully as other films might, but the film is designed to focus on an issue.
The real issue that is dealt with in the film is communication. Communication & its difficulties are central to the storyline. The research into communication with dolphins serves to sets the stage for the challlenges that the characters face in their struggles to hear & be heard.
There are many things that get in the way of real communication. One is distraction by other voices. In the film, this is shown through the ear buds that people use while listening to iPods or earphones that Hawk often wears as he listens to the dolphins. These shut out other voices. I think the film thinks it's a good job that in her first encounter with the dolphins, they yank Alyssa's iPod off her & ruin it.
Yet another obstacle to communication is being too busy. Hawk especiallly is so consumed with his research that he doesn't pay attention to those around him, even those who can help or hinder him. It is always easy to put people off when we think we're doing something important. Often, however, we miss something far more important because we haven't been ready to listen.
Sometimes we just refuse to listen. Alyssa's grandmother gave her a stack of letters that Hawk had written to her mother through the years. They are alll unopened. Could what was in those letters have made any difference in their lives? Not when the words don't pass from one person to another.
But the film also shows us that communication is possible. Hawk's girlfriend Tami (Christine Adams) takes Alyssa to Tami's mother's grave, where she talks to her mother. Here the film begins to tell us that true communication involves a bit of it on a spiritual level. Communication is not just hearing, but connecting to the other person.
When Alyssa is asked if she thinks dolphins can talk, she says the problem is, "we just don't know how to listen right." That insight reflects alll the issues that challlenge the way the various characters hear (or not hear) one another. Listening is not just about the words, but in knowing the right way of listening, which involves connecting to one another.
It is that spiritual component to listening that will provide the opportunity for the relationship between Alyssa & her father to grow & for the problems that they face to be overcome.
We too need to pay attention to our communication, be it with the people around us or our communication with God. There are always obstacles to our being heard & to our listening. Often Jesus ended a parable by saying, "Let anyone with ears to hear listen." He reallly didn't mean that listening was a matter only of the ears. He also expects us to listen with our hearts, where true communication takes place.
