News Bulletin - Australian Animal Studies Group

Film and Audio
PROJECT NIM
Directed by James Marsh
A documentary about Nim, the chimpanzee who in the 1970s
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.
Review by Simon Foster from the SBS website
James Marsh‘s Project Nim ruminates on ideas of ‗nature versus
nurture‘ but these are by no means the only contentious issues
raised in this complex, heartbreaking work. The misguided
intentions of those motivated – consciously or sub-consciously –
by greed and exploitation fuel this sad simian soap opera.
Marsh (Man on Wire) utilises stills, Super-8 frames and other
video footage to chart the development of Nim, a chimpanzee
removed from his mother as a newborn (―He didn‘t struggle or try
to get away; he just screamed‖) and taught to communicate using sign language in a 1970s
linguistic experiment. The title references Jonathan Kaplan‘s 1987 military-monkey adventure
Project X; one wonders whether that film‘s plotting was perhaps inspired by Nim‘s happy and welldocumented
adventures up to that point in time.
At first the ape became the spoilt pet of an extended hippy family on New York‘s Upper West side,
where he smoked pot and drank alcohol in line with the prevailing beliefs of the time that such
substances would expand his consciousness. His human ‗mother‘ – a psychology student – taught
him simple sign language in a radical program devised by linguistic professor Herb Terrace, the
least appealing human presence in a film full of fascinating but thoroughly flawed individuals.
With his fate in the hands of scientists whose livelihoods are contingent upon their findings, Nim is
paraded for personal and professional gain, and neglected when he begins to exhibit ‗anti-social‘
tendencies. Of course, these tendencies merely represent the emerging animalistic urges of the
beast within, but Nim‘s natural urges are of the least interest to those who stand to benefit from the
signing chimp with the 120-word vocabulary.
Marsh poses some major existential conundrums in this fascinating film: How relatable are Nim‘s
reactions given the chimpanzee‘s genetic similarities to humans?; To what extent does Nim‘s
environment shape his psyche and, by extension, what does his forcible confinement say about
the validity of the ongoing experiments?; And were those charged with his care and development
sufficiently advanced emotionally and ethically to handle such a responsibility?
More so than any of the scientists or activists who fought blinkered battles over the chimpanzee‘s
well-being, it‘s the filmmaker who shows the utmost respect for Nim. Not merely in the chronicling
of his journey, which began as a joyous experiment full of good intentions yet became a harrowing
case of neglect, but also by exposing the agendas and shortcomings of the human animals that
drifted in and out of the tribal life and mind of the ape. Nim may bite and scratch and impose
himself unashamedly upon man and animal alike, but Marsh‘s film defines his behaviour as far
more genuine, soulful and, ultimately, understandable than any other presence in the film.
Project Nim was screened at the Sydney Film Festival. See the SBS website for trailers and more
information about the film, including an interview with James Marsh:
http://www.sbs.com.au/films/movie/12386/Project-Nim-
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