A haunting documentary about the disgusting commercial trade of polar bear fur, Abraham Joffe’s Trade Secret expertly exposes the betrayal of those meant to protect a vulnerable species.

Each year, hundreds of polar bears fall victim to a brutal international trade. The situation seems dire, but hope emerges when three unexpected allies unite in a mission to protect these vulnerable creatures. As they delve deeper into the issue, they uncover a shocking truth: those responsible for safeguarding these animals are, in fact, complicit in their exploitation and demise.

With every passing documentary on the treatment of animals in the wild, you get more and more enraged with how humans still haven’t learned just to leave species that they have reduced to tiny numbers alone. In Abraham Joffe’s Trade Secret, that feeling of anger increases tenfold as not only are we left in the knowledge that the plans we put in place to help restore polar bear numbers to a non-vulnerable level have failed spectacularly.

What Trade Secret does best is show just how low humans will go to get what they want. The never-ending search for loopholes, deals that can be brokered, so someone gets a product or a nice little deal, is so commonplace that it is second nature for some people. Yet, when you see this all done so that people can obtain the fur and bodies of polar bears, your empathy for the human race is worn down to the ground. Everything has a price; anything can be a commodity, and it’s sickening.

Joffe and his team of cinematographers (Goh Iromoto, Mark Kassen, Justin Lewis and DomWest as well as Joffe himself) break our hearts further with what they capture of these animals that are still navigating through their ever diminishing natural habitat. It’s gorgeous but haunting all at the same time and makes itself a reminder that if it isn’t the commercialisation of these animals that is going to kill them, it is how we have systematically destroyed their habitats that what was once perfect for animals like polar bears is now a nightmare.

That is not to say the entirety of Trade Secret is shot with a pessimistic approach. When we do see these animals doing well in their environment, it is truly beautiful, yet it’s another smart tactic by Joffe to lure us in as he then jarringly shows us what happens to other animals that were not so lucky to not get hunted. The ugliness in these moments is natural, and Joffe makes sure not to flinch in showing us the end result; he needs to, to make what we are witnessing as uncomfortable as possible for those who have allowed this barbarity to occur.

Interestingly, seeing how this also affects indigenous hunters was eye-opening; these trophy hunters and commercial hunters are not just killing for their community, they are killing for a profit that should never be theirs to have. As the documentary continues, we see how beneficial it was to have this shot over a six-year period as the film twists and turns in ways you would never have expected if it had been shot over a shorter period.

Trade Secret is excellent; you just cannot help but feel emotional about it. It is a documentary that is so full of importance to polar bear conservation, but all vulnerable species conservation that it needs to be seen by as wide an audience as possible. We aren’t doing enough to keep everything in check, and it is an urgent reminder that we need to do so much better – a fantastic documentary.

★★★★

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