PROJECT NIM (2011)

Cast

Plot

Lucy Fife Donaldson says: "Documentary about a chimp who was raised as a child for the purposes of researching whether language is inherent in chimpanzees (as believed for humans), determined primarily through whether they could use grammar. However, because this was during the 1970s, the research project – run by Herbert Terrace at the University of Columbia – was not as well-organised as it should have been, and the film is mainly concerned with the humans that worked with Nim and ultimately failed him. Fascinating as a document of how unscientific scientific research can be, this is also a distressing insight into the treatment of animals used for research, despite the best intentions (in some cases) of the humans involved."