Review of Project Nim (2011) by Walter M — 01 Mar 2013

"Project Nim" starts not so innocently enough when Nim, a baby chimpanzee, is taken out of the arms of his mother at the Primate Studies Institute in Oklahoma in 1973. He is brought to New York by Herbert Terrace, a Columbia University professor, who wants to see if chimpanzees can be taught sign language and communicate with humans. So, he gives Nim's care over to Stephanie LaFarge. As much fun as she has raising her new charge, there is no clinical structure until Laura-Ann Petitto, an 18-year old research assistant, is hired for the project and the operation is moved to an expansive estate in Riverdale.

On the surface, the documentary "Project Nim" looks like a no-lose proposition with its fascinating subject, who is recalled with loads of home movies and interviews with many of the participants. But where this sentimental film goes wrong is in its lack of critical distance which brings mixed results concerning the primates here. While we get insights into chimpanzee behavior, the same cannot be said for the human beings whose attitudes are explained blithely away by one person when she says it was the 70's. That might be true if you were talking about giving a joint to your kid's babysitter; not so much when you're giving a strong chimpanzee a joint.(I imagine people at these reunions start by showing each other their scars.) And as much as Herbert Terrace comes off as unsympathetic, he is right that the results of the experiments were questionable, to say the least, as the researchers possibly blurred results by their anthropomorphizing Nim.