Review of Gorillas in the Mist (1988) by Patrick E — 20 Sep 2010

Biographies are definitely the most hit and miss genre of cinema today purely because the entire plot is driven by one person's life story. If that story is not engaging enough then the film is destined to be a failure. The life story of Dian Fossey falls somewhere in the middle, it's interesting enough to hold your attention but not quite engaging enough to create an excellent film.

Gorillas in the Mist tells the story of Fossey's trip to Africa to study the diminishing population of Mountain Gorilla's and her fight against the indigenous tribe and the local government officials to protect the gorillas from poaching. Throw in the token love story and we have our films plot. In fact if the love story had been left out from the mid section then we would have had a much more interesting film as it has an excellent opening and ending. The cinematography is beautiful and there are some fantastic shots of gorillas in the wild. Sigourney Weaver plays Fossey excellently and it's clear she had a real passion for her work. The pace of the film slows down considerably in the middle though when Fossey falls for an Aussie photographer. This section is incredibly boring and almost makes you lose interest in the film. The climax is very good though as Fossey's spat would the local tribe reaches breaking point.

There are a lot of things to admire about Gorillas in the Mist; it's wonderfully shot and acted, has a great opening and ending and does an excellent job of getting its environmental message across to the viewer. Ultimately though a largely boring mid section really drags the film down and many people will lose interest at this point. It's definitely worth sticking out though and there is no doubt it's a film worth watching. I can't help but feel it could have been better though.