Project Nim

2011 Documentary

Oscar-winning director James Marsh (Man on Wire) shifts his focus from man to monkey to tell the remarkable story of Nim, a chimpanzee who managed the unique feat of learning sign language after being raised like a typical human child. Interviews with Nim's trainers as well as other key researchers are combined with archival footage to offer incredible insight into the experiment that would forever alter our perceptions regarding the differences between man and beast. By attempting to turn Nim human, scientists learned more about the true nature of humanity than they ever thought possible.

Director: James Marsh

Starring: Bob Angelini, Bern Cohen, Bob Ingersoll, Reagan Leonard, Dr. James Mahoney

Reviews

  • Deep, disturbing and funny.

    Kyle Smith - New York Post

    26 April 2013

  • An engrossing and enraging drama of one chimpanzee and his life's journey across a landscape of human folly.

    Ty Burr - The Boston Globe

    26 April 2013

  • Nim's suffering is heartbreaking, but Marsh's melodramatic style, with its re-enactments and intense score, sometimes feels bombastic and overblown for a group of people who, aside from the frighteningly detached and morally careless Terrace, seem to be garden-variety neurotics and narcissists, more clueless than willfully cruel.

    Ella Taylor - NPR

    26 April 2013

  • "A chimp could not have a better mother," Terrace declares of his decision. The people in this film say stuff like that a lot.

    Michelle Orange - Movieline

    26 April 2013

  • A fascinating and in many ways tragic documentary, takes us back to one of the high-water marks of the apes-are-people-too era.

    Owen Gleiberman - Entertainment Weekly

    26 April 2013

Awards

  • Best Documentary Film

    BAFTA Awards (2012)

     
  • Best Documentary

    Boston Society of Film Critics Awards (2011)

  • Best Documentary

    British Independent Film Awards (2011)

     
  • Best Documentary Feature

    Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards (2012)

     
  • Best Documentary

    Chicago Film Critics Association Awards (2011)