Project Nim

Matt Richards

Quite a frustrating watch at just the sheer retardation of everyone involved in the project. These people were supposed to be scientists but the doco has pretty much no science element to it; or not enough to present a more balanced view on one of the great failings of scientific curiosity in this instance. Poor old Nim. 3 stars.

Matthew_Lucas

Extraordinary documentary about a chimpanzee named Nim, who was the subject of a scientific experiment where he was raised as a human from infancy to study a chimp's ability to pick up human communication. What stars off as an adorable exercise in animal friendship becomes a tragic tale of betrayal and hardship, as Nim's growth makes him increasingly difficult to handle. A harrowing and intensely moving experience.

prestidigitator

they wanted to make nim human and they only made themselves inhuman. (this movie broke my heart.)

Mutt

If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from the movies, it’s that you shouldn’t run a scientific project teaching sign language to a chimp if you know jack squat about chimps, sign language and the scientific method.

Storm KMB Moon

An intriguing documentary unfortunately filled with most unlikeable people. Certainly worth a watch - some of he behind the scenes drama of the experiment beats anything Hollywood could offer! The real star, Nim, is ultimately a victim of the people around him, making this a sad watch, though compelling.

Superfrog

Pretty bad realisation about an interesting subject, which would have deserved a good quality, neutral tone and an exploration of the glaring mistakes that happened through the project. Instead we get some emotionally loaded declarations and a glimpse into the path of sexual discovery of the head researcher. And in the end, not much to take with.

MichaelDub

Great documentary. That's what I love MUBI for - you can discover films you would otherwise never see. As for the film - I think the relationships between the people involved in the project was more interesting than the communicating chimp.

Alan McDonald

Thoroughly enjoyed! Just shows what emotional connections can be achieved with animals and how cruel humans can be without thinking of the consequences and expect everything just to be the same again.