DVD Review: PROJECT NIM

Project Nim, the latest film from Man on Wire director, James Marsh (no relation), was the benefactor of a fortuitous set of release circumstances. Marsh's film deals with a behavioral experiment performed on a chimpanzee to determine if these primates were capable of acquiring human language. If this bears a passing resemblance to a certain blockbuster prequel from 2011, don't think the connection wasn't made by the distributors of the film, who've cleverly mimicked the DVD cover from Rise of the Planet of the Apes in their release of Project Nim. Where Rise dealt with genetic mutations and science that could very possibly be in the not too distant future, Nim focuses on a psychological and behavioral experiment that took place over thirty years ago, yet the films, and their ultimate messages, aren't so different.

Nim Chimpsky was a chimpanzee born into captivity and adopted by Herb Terrace at Columbia University and introduced to a behavioral experiment designed to determine if chimps were capable of acquiring language. The crux of the experimental design was that Nim would be raised as a human from a very young age, about two weeks, and treated like a human child in every way. Nim was a member of a family, he ate with the family, used the bathroom, dressed in human clothes, nursed from his adopted mother, and learned a modified version of American Sign Language. Dr. Terrace was not a member of the family with which Nim lived, but he was ultimately in charge of Nim's destiny, and when Nim's usefulness ran out, he was taken from the family and integrated into a larger experiment involving Terrace's research assistants.

This transition, from a family atmosphere to a academic atmosphere, was only the first of many abrupt transitions in Nim's life. He was shipped from place to place frequently, and when his usefulness wore off, or he began "regressing" too much into his chimp-nature, he was simply moved to a place that was less like a human home, and away from the life to which he'd become accustomed. Imagine that, I know I can.  I had a hard enough time moving from house to house as a child of divorce, I can't imagine having to deal with the realization that I wasn't the species that I was raised as would be absolutely mind-bending.

Through all of the training, the education, and the social integration, Nim never stopped being a chimp, even if he didn't understand what that meant. When his animal nature came out, his handlers saw it as a flaw, a glitch in his perfect demeanor, when in reality it was simply Nim's natural impulse. It wasn't until very late in his life that Nim was able to be a chimp without fear of reprisal, and by that time, he was probably too far gone.

Nim's story is absolutely heartbreaking. His journey from cradle to grave begins and ends in a cage. His brief trysts with freedom in between those two bookends made all the more bitter for their temporary nature. James Marsh's film follows Nim and the people who cared for him through forty years of pleasure, pain, success, failure, love, and neglect. I'm no hippie, and I'm not going to be joining PETA any time soon, but this film was certainly powerful in its ability to capture the spirit of Nim, and the tragedy that was his life. Project Nim is one of those films that hurts to watch, but it is important to watch, to realize and understand what man is capable of, and it isn't always pretty.

The Disc:

Project Nim is a documentary, and as such there is a lot of archival footage on many different formats. This makes rating the A/V very tricky. The film is also replete with reenactments, many of which are indistinguishable from the archival footage, much to the credit of Marsh and his director of photography. As such, it would be foolish of me to attempt to grade the A/V in this film. I will say that the contemporary interviews look beautiful, and the anamorphic 1.78:1 feature looks very clean, beyond that I'll offer no critique. 

The film comes to DVD with a few very fascinating bonus materials that are well worth checking out, and a reason to purchase this disc if you find the story interesting. First of all, there is a commentary with James Marsh that is good as far as commentaries go, I'm not usually a fan, but this was well paced, and contained plenty of good background info.  There are also two featurettes that will probably make you cry.  The first is Bob's Journey, this is a look at Bob Ingersoll, one of the workers at a primate rescue venue where Nim lived for several years, and one of the loudest voices in Nim's corner. Bob followed the film through the festival circuit, he was at Dallas IFF where I first saw the film, and this ten minute featurette recounts his travels, and the joy and pain of reliving that experience and sharing it with others.  Through most of this piece, Ingersoll's eyes are welling up with tears, and I defy you not to cry with him.  The second featurette is Making Nim, which is a forty minute making of documentary that documents every part of the production of the film from conception to distribution.  This is obviously a lot more thorough, but less emotionally poignant than Bob's Journey, but still worth a watch.

The fact that Project Nim is no longer an Oscar contender baffles pretty much everyone, including me. This is a film that deserves the attention that an Oscar would bring, and I hope this review does my small part to keep it in people's minds.  Please, watch Project Nim.