Project Nim, James Marsh (dir.)

It strikes me as particularly interesting that Project Nim and Rise of the Planet of the Apes have been released in such close proximity as they are a perfect example of of two films tackling a very similar issue in the most contrasting of ways. Whilst Rise of the Planet of the Apes is, of course, the re-emergence of a classic and widely-known blockbuster franchise, Project Nim is a more subtle but no less powerful affair. Project Nim is the documentary that tells the story of a chimp (Nim) who is taken from his mother at an early age and raised, as far as possible, as a human infant. 

The film is a fascinating insight into a bold experiment that aimed to answer the question of nature versus nurture and test whether a chimp (with its genetic build-up so similar to our own) could learn to communicate in the same way as we do when brought up in the same way as a homo sapiens child. The results of this test do not prove that chimps have the same linguistic capacities as us (and that we are doomed to a fate similar to that predicted in the aforementioned Rise of...) Yet, if Nim is anything to go by what it does prove is that they have an equal capacity for love, affection and an individual personality as any of us. Furthermore, what we learn about one chimp's love and lust for life (as epitomised by Nim's favourite hand sign meaning "play") is reflected in the faltering loyalties of the humans around him. It is fair to say that there is as much about ourselves as a race depicted in this film as there is about the chimpanzee.
         I have no wish to discourage viewers from going to see the latest visit to The Planet of the Apes, in fact I am an avid fan of the franchise, but if you like it or you just like monkeys try and see both of the simian releases out there at the moment, Project Nim is certainly worth it.


Etep
A review of Rise of the Planet of the Apes will soon follow.