Project Nim | Review

The debate in the US whether wild animals should be allowed to be kept in captivity, both as pets or as test subjects, has raged on for years. Director James Marsh, the creator of Man On Wire, has crafted a film that presents a unique case against keeping animals in captivity with Nim, a chimpanzee that was taken from his mother shortly after birth, and became the subject of a test to see whether or not chimps had the capacity to learn and successfully use sign language. Project Nim tells the chimp’s story with grace, and a keen observance of the fine lines that separate humans from wild animals.

In 1973, Nim was ripped from his mother, and placed in the Lafarge family home to live amongst humans by Professor Herbert Terrace, of Columbia University, with hopes of true communication between species. Nim’s teacher Laura-Ann Petitto visited him during the week, but it quickly became clear that the chaotic hippy household was not conducive to the project. With help from Columbia, he was then moved to a University owned ranch where he lived with several linguist teachers in a mansion to advance his learning program. As time went by Nim’s vocabulary grew immensely, but as he aged the safety of those participating in the project became more and more questionable. The project was shut down, but the now intellectualized chimp was left with nowhere to go that fit his needs. He was used to hanging out with people, eating human food, and playing in the spacious outdoors that surrounded his immense house, but he was unfortunately placed in a series of caged environments, often with other chimps whom he didn’t know how to socialize with.

The film tries its best to remain objective in its presentation of the story by interviewing almost everyone that was directly connected with the story, but by choosing this subject in the first place it’s obvious Marsh along with a few of Nim’s teachers would like to see these practices outlawed. This may be the main issue at hand, but the film is existential, often broaching the topic of nature vs. nurture, and the excitement of the potential to communicate outside the human species. It’s evident that Nim left a major impact on those that worked with him, not just because of his ability to sign, but because of his beaming personality, and fondness for physical human touch that was exposed in the process. Vintage photographs and video footage paired with sincere new interviews tell his story with passion. It’s clear that nearly everyone involved had good intentions about Nim, but humans make mistakes, and unfortunately one after another was made here that deeply effected the quality of life of an unlucky chimp.

James Marsh once again uses his story telling brilliance to construct an emotional portrait of a chimp that informs us more about ourselves as humans than its subject. Sleek editing and a wealth of archival footage unveil a sad, and thought provoking tale of humans overstepping their reach in the name of science without regard to the well being of other living creatures. Project Nim is an early guess for best of 2011 lists.

Reviewed at the 2011 Hot Docs Film Festival.

Rating 4 stars