Project Nim (2011)

Tells the story of a chimpanzee taken from its mother at birth and raised like a human child by a family in a brownstone on the upper West Side in the 1970s.

Director:

James Marsh

Writer:

Elizabeth Hess (book)

Stars:

Nim Chimpsky, Stephanie LaFarge, Herbert Terrace

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 16 wins & 29 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nim Chimpsky	...	Self (archive footage)
Stephanie LaFarge	...	Self
Herbert Terrace	...	Self
Wer LaFarge	...	Self (archive footage)
Jenny Lee	...	Self
Laura-Ann Petitto	...	Self
Bill Tynan	...	Self
Joyce Butler	...	Self
Renne Falitz	...	Self
Bob Ingersoll	...	Self
Alyce Moore	...	Self
James Mahoney	...	Self (as Dr. James Mahoney)
Henry Herrmann	...	Self
Cleveland Amory	...	Self (archive footage)
Marion Probst	...	Self

Storyline

From the Oscar-winning team behind MAN ON WIRE comes the story of Nim, the chimpanzee who in the 1970s became the focus of a landmark experiment which aimed to show that an ape could learn to communicate with language if raised and nurtured like a human child. Following Nim's extraordinary journey through human society, and the enduring impact he makes on the people he meets along the way, the film is an unflinching and unsentimental biography of an animal we tried to make human. What we learn about his true nature - and indeed our own - is comic, revealing and profoundly unsettling.

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Plot Keywords:

1970s | chimpanzee | title appears in text | two word title | linguistics | 

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Genres:

Documentary

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some strong language, drug content, thematic elements and disturbing images

Did You Know?

Trivia

James Mahoney, the chief vet at the laboratory where Nim spent some of his later years, was very reluctant to be involved in the film, given that this period was probably the most traumatic for Nim during his 26-year life. He was convinced by director James Marsh that he would not be depicted as the film's villain as Marsh had no interest in getting into the minefield subject of animal rights.

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Connections

Referenced in Film 2017: Episode dated 17 December 2014 (2014)

User Reviews

Fascinating but sad

This is a very good and engaging film. I will not reiterate plot as this is available in the other fine reviews, but I have to say I found the documentary both heartening and deeply sad in equal measures.

Firstly, I do agree with the other reviewers comments on futility, I do not, however, agree entirely with Professor Terrace's view that the project was a failure, though conversely I do think the project failed Nim. To expand on this I would say that the conclusion of Terrace's failure seemed to fit a classic narrow set of parameters by which you compare and judge the outcome solely on an initial and highly specific expectation of what you will achieve. To this end perhaps it failed Professor Terrace's criteria.

I think however opportunities were certainly lost. Nim seemed to interact in so many subtle and fascinating ways during the process of his teaching, and he seemed to teach a great deal to all of the assistants who gave him their care. There seemed to be so little structure from the start with regards to what was to be taught and observed and in which direction the project should be going.

The only constant seemed to be the teaching of signing, at which Nim excelled! From what I could see, regardless of whether he learnt the actions to manipulate his handlers or not, he still learnt the signs. Since it was known that the chimp could not form human speech, how was it to communicate what it had learnt and why it was using the language in this way? I found this point frustrating and dubious and an example of one person with their eye so "firmly on the prize", that they miss the importance of the process.

Importantly, everybody who was involved across the duration of the project was given a chance to clearly state the turn of events. Perspectives on this varied widely, as you would expect, as everybody brought a different set of expectations and sensibilities, but it was a mature approach which I think led to the films balanced handling of Nim's story.

All in all I found it a fascinating cautionary tale. Luckily the balance of academic ego versus humanity that twists through this story left me with hope that indeed something had been learnt from the unique life of this Chimpanzee.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 August 2011 (UK)

Also Known As:

Chimpanse-eksperimentet

Filming Locations:

New York, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$25,820, 10 July 2011

Gross USA:

$411,184

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$612,839

Company Credits

Production Co:

Red Box Films, Passion Pictures, BBC Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min 100 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color