Project Nim   Starring: Bob Ingersoll, Stephanie LaFarge, Hebert Terrace and Nim Chimpsky Icon Home Entertainment RRP: £15.99 ICON10235 Certificate: 12 Available 09 January 2012

In the '70s an experiment was conducted which saw Nim, a newborn chimpanzee, being adopted and brought up as a human. He was taught sign language so that he could communicate with his new family and this documentary follows Nim's fascinating existence in a human society and the enduring impact he made on people along the way. Project Nim is an unflinching and powerfully devastating biography of an animal we tried to make human; a journey of power, attraction and group bonding in a species whose startling capacity for selfishness and aggression is offset by human displays of affection and intelligence. What we learn from Nim is his true nature - and indeed our own - is comic, revealing and profoundly unsettling...

Project Nim is a documentary that looks back at the '70s experiment in which a chimpanzee was brought up as a human, to see if a connection could be made between both species. The idea behind the science was to test Noam Chomsky's, who was the foremost theorist of human language structure and generative grammar at the time, thesis that language is inherent only in humans. This also explains the chimp's name - Nim Chimpsky was a pun on Noam Chomsky.

What's obvious is that the experiment wasn't really documented very well from the start. There were no reports written up, no daily diary of events or achievements and Nim's first human family didn't know any sign language. It's quite obvious that the structure for his learning wasn't really thought out - it was very much a case of just letting events happen and then seeing whether he eventually learned to communicate with his family and live as one of them.

Director James Marsh admits, in the audio commentary on this DVD, that his main aim wasn't to give a detailed look at the science behind the experiment, but more to tell the story of Nim and those that came into contact with him. So, if you're looking for a serious look at the science behind the experiment then you may feel a little short changed. This film focuses more on the life of the chimp and what his feelings to his constant changing surrounds may have been. In this aspect I felt that the director took a bit of a lazy approach. By anthropomorphism Nim, the director opens up this movie to the widest possible audience - so we have an emotional tale in which the viewer starts to feel for Nim as though he were more than just a normal chimp.

It's a shame that we never really discovered how well Nim could communicate or whether those responsible for his care (other than Herb) believed he really was able to use speech to express himself. While we hear that Nim was picking up signs incredibly quickly, there was never any footage of him carrying on a typical conversation - other than him asking for food or to play. And to be honest you can teach a domestic cat to do that; they will let know when they want feeding, or to be let outdoors - sometimes with a set "meow". But does that mean the cat is capable of communicating with us? No, it illustrates that is knows what noise to make if it wants to attract our attention to something.

This documentary uses new interviews with the main people connected with Nim, archive footage, as well as some incredibly well constructed new film designed to set the scene for elements that needed dramatising.

Extras include an audio commentary with the director; Making Nim (32 min, 15 sec look at the making of the movie); Bob's Journey (10 min, 28 sec featurette that follows Bob Ingersoll); and Photo Gallery (1 min, 17 sec which is set to music).

The audio commentary is interesting as it reveals a few more aspects behind some of the human relationships. While it's touched on in the film, we also learn that Herb and Stephanie's affair happened when Stephanie was a student. In fact Herb's inability to keep his hands to himself where students are concerned is something that would have been interesting to look more deeply into.

We also learn, in the commentary, that Delafield Estate has since burnt down. The Laura/Herb affair is also explained a little better. In the film, it sounds like Laura had an affair with Nim! Marsh is also concerned that Herb appeared to have no sympathy for Renee's injuries and was more worried that he would be sued. In fact, Herb seems to be a bit of an emotionless individual.

What was interesting was the inclusion of Dr. James Mahoney who was the veterinarian at the New York University LEMSIP's research lab where he was responsible for the welfare of the research primates. It would have been so easy to paint him as a villain, but the odd thing is that his accounts make for the most telling. He was there to care for the chimps but, as he points out in the film, it wasn't humane because they were already in small cages to begin with. And it was Mahoney who, under cover of darkness, managed to free many of the primates when the LEMSIP lab was in the process of closing down its research.

Even given this film's many failings and missed opportunities, this is an interesting story that is incredibly well presented.

8

Darren Rea