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Project Nim

Project Nim

2011
Documentary
1h 33m
The story of Nim, the chimpanzee, following his extraordinary journey through human society, and the enduring impact he makes on the people he meets along the way. In the 1970s, Nim became the focus of a landmark experiment which aimed to show that an ape could learn to communicate with language if raised and nurtured like a human child.
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Project Nim

2011
Documentary
1h 33m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 63.02% from 321 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(321)
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Rated 10 Mar 2012
60
53rd
I don't want to sound racist (in that most broad definition of the term), but the documentary lost me when it went from interesting inter-species study, in which some of the people surrounding the project share Nim's IQ, to the sad demise of a demented monkey. The best bits are when the people that Nim attacks, try to humanize and explain his actions. 'He attacked because he was angry that we left him'. No. You went into a cage with a dangerous animal and it didn't like that, you fucking moron.
Rated 27 Apr 2012
70
84th
In hindsight, the most heartbreaking part of the whole story was the missed opportunity to form a human/chimp vocalist duo called "Feces & Herb."
Rated 22 Aug 2011
80
68th
This film starkly exposes the 1970s at their worst. A burning passion, a belief in universal equality extending even to animals, but with no momentum for follow through and with no forethought as to the ramifications of their experiment. Horror show. Anyways, visually I was very impressed. Much of the visual material is photographic, which normally leads to Ken Burns style visuals, which are awful. Marsh avoids this, thank God, and makes the film visually interesting
Rated 23 Jan 2012
6
53rd
Interesting to an extent yet I never felt it finished any of the themes/issues it brings up.
Rated 11 Sep 2011
60
31st
I went expecting a film that explored the differences between chimps and humans and what it means to be human. The film disappointed me in that regard, although the film did have an emotional impact. However, the film felt more like an animal-rights advocacy piece, which is not bad, but I question the presentation of the issue and people involved.
Rated 25 Jun 2012
84
78th
I didn't know I was watching a biography until about 3/5 of the way through, but it was certainly the most, um, unique one I've seen. ...and talk about a dark turn. Damn
Rated 12 Mar 2012
69
80th
Prepare to be depressed out by Nim's story. I would guess writers of Rise of the Planet of the Apes were influenced by primate experiments from the 70's. Stylistically, Project Nim is similar to previous Marsh' documentary Man on Wire. Different emotions. I would have loved to share a joint with Nim!
Rated 13 Jan 2012
60
13th
The doc is less on the ape or the research and more about the idiots conducting it. And no, I don't think it does a good job making that interesting either
Rated 28 Sep 2011
70
29th
An interesting film but it's downright bizarre how it just kind of doesn't care about the actual science in this scientific study.
Rated 13 Feb 2012
60
65th
A fifteen minutes wiki search granted me more information than the film itself. However the subject is inherently interesting for me and simply the amount of footage warrants a watch if you are interested in the synopsis as well.
Rated 30 Dec 2011
82
86th
People complaining about the lack of information about the study itself are missing the point to a comical degree.
Rated 30 Nov 2012
90
92nd
I'll be forever grateful to this movie for introducing me to Nim's story, a tale so powerful and suggestive that it functions as a myth about the ever-mysterious relationship between human beings and animals.
Rated 10 Mar 2012
74
79th
I feel sorry for Nim, if only because he had to endure life with a constant stream of self-serving morons washing away any hope of leading a normal chimp existence. No wonder he bit everyone.
Rated 23 Feb 2012
75
83rd
Not nearly as enchanting as Man on Wire, but this is a cool follow-up to that film that will cement your hatred for humankind.
Rated 08 Jul 2012
76
43rd
I found the subject of this documentary interesting but the film was only so-so. Too long, way too much of the talking heads narrative style, and the director seemed to have no clue about what material to remove or add to make a compelling story. The strategy employed is just throw everything together linearly and call it done. This is probably very honest and objective film-making but it's one case where I would have enjoyed a little fabrication or emotional manipulation. Worth seeing once.
Rated 07 Feb 2012
80
80th
Packs an emotional punch, which was obviously its intention, rather than explaining some scientific study. Very well put together, and quite quite sad on a number of levels.
Rated 16 Apr 2013
70
75th
If you're expecting a movie about the science, it might be disappointing, but this is the story of an individual (here being a chimp named Nim) and it's a good one at that. Really touching and sad story, told in a good style and decent usage of archive footage. Definitely worth a watch.
Rated 27 Jul 2011
74
84th
Very interesting documentary that raises complex questions on a number of levels. The film itself appears heavily influenced by the style of Errol Morris, the various characters are all interesting, and the tale of Nim is moving and sad. The scientific significance remains ambiguous.
Rated 27 Jan 2012
90
59th
goooood!
Rated 21 Jan 2014
5
98th
Some of the re-enactments early on struck me as really OTT. As Nim's story unfolds more and more issues are raised, fascinating. Like the best kinds of documentary this left me enthused, I could talk about this for hours. Brilliant.
Rated 06 Aug 2011
20
41st
"It's dispiriting to see James Marsh deploy a rhetorical strategy of simply assuming human/chimp equivalence in order to stoke outrage at Nim's post-experiment treatment." - Andrew Schenker
Rated 07 May 2012
90
88th
It shocks me how often the chimps say 'hug' and 'play.' And to people who care about the science: the film displays pretty clear evidence that chimps can use language and understand subject/object relationships in their communications.
Rated 05 Nov 2012
50
47th
At best you could say this experiment was from a different era and those involved were incredibly naive; at worst it was one of the most embarrassingly unscientific research exercises ever conducted, run by a bunch of ignorant free-loving hippies who never even began to understand what they were doing. Perhaps this is why the doc moves away from the work completed with the communicative chimp, choosing instead to concentrate on the ups and downs of the poor bugger's life. Okay but missable.
Rated 12 Jan 2014
7
61st
Really fluffy and most of the people interviewed are pretentious, hippy fools. Still, it's interesting and cute enough to get a pass from me.
Rated 17 Feb 2011
60
50th
Solid doc with a good "storyline".
Rated 07 Apr 2012
45
25th
If you know anything about chimpanzees, you know that as cute as they may be, they can rip your face off at any moment. For whatever reason, these well educated people from beginning to end are enchanted by the endearing things Nim does until he tries to do just that. It's not just once either. The cycle repeats and repeats throughout 'Project Nim' and each time I found it harder to take seriously. You know how things are going to play out and still they push their human feelings on an animal.
Rated 12 Nov 2015
73
59th
Engaging and very interesting on several levels. The whole setup of the experiment comes out as irresponsible and tragically ill-judged. The style is pretty unassuming with home video footage and talking heads but its all very solid filmmaking (if slightly televisual).
Rated 26 Feb 2017
5
96th
Hjärtskärande (låter bättre på engelska: heart-breaking). Det finns några filmer som sätter ett frågetecken kring vem/vilka som har mänskliga kvaliteer som empati och moral. Min spelfilmsfavorit är nog Blade Runner. Project Nim är dokumentär, men reser också frågan. Den handlar om en apa som växer upp bland människor och behandlas som en människa, men som senare sviks på ett sätt som är... omänskligt. Det är förstås inte nytt för någon hur vi behandlar djur, utan det so
Rated 12 Jan 2013
75
77th
Interesting watch.
Rated 05 Sep 2011
3
45th
Much in the same vein as Marsh's Man on Wire, in which he takes a not-so-objective approach about a moving if ethically questionable story. He plainly depicts heroes and villains. Again he makes decent use of fictionalized footage, though not quite to the extent that it can be called re-enactment as in his previous effort.
Rated 16 Dec 2020
7
68th
very interesting but you only need to watch the first half

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