Project Nim Review
By David Kempler
Monkey Shines
Nim Chimpsky was born in November of 1973 and passed away in March of 2000. He led a life that was certainly extraordinary. Taken in as a baby, he was raised by a family that was involved in the hippie culture that was prevalent at that time. The documentary, "Project Nim", directed by James Marsh, the awarding-winning filmmaker, focuses on this youngster raised by strangers. Oh, Nim was a chimpanzee.
Nim was part of a study led by Herbert Terrace, of Columbia University. Through interviews with Terrace, the people who helped take care of Nim, and home movies taken by Terrace's adoptive parents, we learn the inside scoop on this scientific experiment that wasn't much of an experiment at all. It plays more like, "Let's put a chimp in someone's home, instruct them to raise the monkey as a human child and chart the results". The problem is that virtually no records were kept by the family or anyone else. Terrace was much more interested in his female assistants than in science.
Nim proves to be too much to handle for his "parents" and ends up being passed through a series of handlers and teachers. Along the way, he bites and attacks quite a few folks. In light of what happened to the lady who had her face ripped off by a chimp a few years ago, these people got off light. Yet, you can't help but feel sorry for Nim for all he is put through in the name of science.
One young man who ended up in charge of Nim at one point truly cared about him and, even though his story is slightly overplayed, it works. It's the only part that doesn't either seem sleazy or banal. In the end, it is this young man that ultimately acts as Nim's only true spokesperson.
"Project Nim" is absorbing even though some of its participants don't seem to really understand their role in ruining Nim's life. Their recollections of the hippie era and the feel-goodness of it all only makes them seem a bit clueless. By the time it's over, it's nice to know that at least one young man understood what was important. He was the only human not monkeying around.
