Directed by James Marsh
In November 1973, a baby chimpanzee was taken from his mother soon after birth to be raised by a human ‘mother’ – a graduate student of psychology with three children of her own. This was the beginning of Project Nim, an experiment to test the nature versus nurture dichotomy. Learning sign language, Nim soon acquired a vocabulary to communicate to his minders and fortunately, everything was recorded. Inspired by the book by Elizabeth Ross, Nim Chimpsky: The Chimp Who Would Be Human, James Marsh has been able to edit together footage from the 27 years of Nim’s life. He interviewed the people who had taken part in the ‘scientific experiment’ who recall the impact Nim had on them.
Nurtured like a human child, Nim could confidently sign his every want while seemingly intent on wrecking the house and the human relationships within it. He outgrew his first family and was cared for by a succession of female students from Columbia University. It was a good idea at the time, as humans and chimpanzees have many behavioural similarities, but the differences between the species emerged to cause difficulties as Nim changed from being a the cute baby to the strong, wilful adolescent. Marsh does not judge the experiment or the people involved, but the participants admit the limitations and unintentional cruelties that occurred.
Nim was funny, tender, manipulative and mischievous. He seemed to have the ability to understand the humans more than they understood him. The experiment turned into a disaster because nobody had foreseen the shortcomings that would occur over time. Moreover, the one who suffered the most was Nim, who did not see another chimpanzee for the first 5 years of his life. Fortunately, he never forgot the people who brought him up and had a huge capacity for forgiveness.
Lezly Herbert
***
