Red Box Films, Passion Pictures, BBC Films,
Herbert Terrace, Stephanie LaFarge, Jenny Lee, Laura-Ann Petitto, Joyce Butler, Bill Tynan
Nim was a chimpanzee, taken from his mother moments after birth, and raised in a human family, as much like a human child as possible. This was in the 1970’s and a project of Doctor Herbert Terrace, a scientist who wanted to investigate the question of nature vs. nurture in an epic way! This was the college environment in the 70’s so Nim certainly had a hippie upbringing! This documentary follows the early days of Nim’s development, as he grew larger and stronger and eventually was moved to the University where he could be put into more a learning environment. From the start he was taught the sign language of the deaf, and learned to communicate through signing. There were many stages of Nim’s life, and this views them all, as he moved from situation to situation, some good and some downright awful. It looks somewhat of the question of whether Nim actually could use language, or just string signs together to get what he wanted. But it also looks more deeply into the way he was treated, and whether it was right to take a free running chimp, and lock him in an iron box by himself? It includes all the people who were involved in Nim’s life including caretakers, teachers, and lab technicians. Dr. Terrace came to his conclusions about Nim’s accomplishments which disagree with some of the other experiments that followed similar paths of teaching chimps to sign. But ultimately this is not so much about the scientific conclusions, but about the amazing life and times of Nim himself.
This was truly a magnificent documentary, and one I enjoyed from start to finish. I was riveted in the story, and didn’t want to miss a moment, as we watched Nim from a tiny baby through adulthood as Nim grew to about 5 feet tall, 150 pounds, and 5 or 6 times stronger than a man. Certainly he was dangerous, but he also shows an amazing amount of emotions. Raised as a human baby, we learned a lot of what was the way he was raised, and what is innate in his DNA that still made him a Chimp after all. I thought this was a very well done documentary, and certainly even handed. It didn’t take sides too much, and lets the viewer decide what was right and what was wrong. Even those who dealt with Nim throughout his life have different opinions on what is right and wrong. This is the way to make a documentary, and this one was definitely worth watching. Nim was certainly a majestic creature, that’s for sure.
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
NB said
April 12 2012 @ 11:56 am
Maybe we didn’t see the same documentary. You’re talking about it like it was a lovely little story. This story was about the drawn out inhumane treatment of an unfortunate animal with no rights to its own life, and all the people who abandoned him. Your review is far too neutral.
EdG said
April 14 2012 @ 5:37 pm
I can fully understand what you are saying. There are those who curse about any animal raised in captivity. I live within walking distance of Knotts Berry Farm, and they used to have a dolphin and sea lion show. There were often protesters outside wanting Knotts to free the captive dolphins and sea lion. The sea lion had a serious eye problem and was nearly blind. He had veterinary care and they completely saved his life, fed him, gave him love and affection, and if that sea lion had been put back into the ocean, he would have died within a week. Nim was raised by people and was a healthy baby chimpanzee, and I don’t think it was necessary to raise him like a child for science, but I am not sure after they did all that, that he would have survived if dumped back in the wild. But you are right, that he did not deserve what he got, whether some of the people thought they were doing good or not. The problem is that an animal can be raised for scientific study when it’s convenient, and when it’s suddenly too costly, or inconvenient, they dump him off to a travelling zoo. When you make the commitment to care for an animal, you have to accept the responsibility. It’s just as wrong for the family who buys a cute little puppy, and then sends him off the gas chamber because he grew up and isn’t a fun little puppy anymore. I guess I could have stressed these points a lot more, but Nim was an amazing creature, that’s for sure.