Review of Project Nim (2011) by Jiana W — 03 Oct 2012

An intriguing, funny, and oftentimes heartbreaking depiction of the most bizarre form of animal cruelty. A group of scientists take a baby chimp from his mother and puts him in with a normal American family to see if he could learn language like a person if he's raised like a human child. When they begin to realize they can't control or force out the animal side of Nim, they pass him around from facility to facility. This is devastating to a creature that has been raised like a human child since he was very young. Nim cannot adjust to human life but he also cannot adjust to being an ape. The saddest part to watch is when he is strapped to a gurney in a medical experiment lab. The whole thing makes you root even more for the apes in the movie "Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes".

More powerful than "Man On Wire", as far as emotional impact goes. It's sad to watch what Nim goes through and his actual emotions displayed during the saddest portions when he is treated terribly by humans. The whole time during the interviews I thought Herb was a smug bastard. Even before the depth of his depravity was shown later on, you get the feeling that this is a callous, self-satisfied and arrogant man. One lady in the movie said that chimps could sense if you were pure of heart and if you were, they'd like you. I disagree. Because if that were true Nim would've hated Herb instead of running over to him with excitement. What a disgusting guy.

A beautiful, well-done documentary that will probably elicit strong emotions out of anyone who watches it. I highly recommend it. I would hope that instructors and teachers show this documentary in psychology or sociology classes. It would be a terrific conversation starter.