Documentary Reflection

Project NIM

Directed by James Marsh

      The documentary I chose to watch was Project NIM. Project NIM is a story of a chimpanzee who has been raised by a team of researchers. The project started when professor Dr.Herbert Terrance wanted to see if an animal could develop human skills if it were to be treated as a human. Growing up, NIM learned an unbelievable amount of things that nobody would have expected a chimp would have the ability to do.

      The initial scene of the documentary made me believe this was going to be a nice story of how a chimp was raised by humans. The beginning of the video portrayed a couple of chimpanzees playing outside. However, the next couple of minutes into the video really angered me. Stephanie Lafarge, the lady who brought in NIM, stated that she had a feeling the mother chimpanzee knew what was going on. Humans had already taken six babies from her previously. The lady did not show any emotion. When I saw the scene of the young chimp in his mother's arms, I was heartbroken. I could not believe how people could just take the young chimp away from his mother. Then, as the doctor came to get NIM, the mother was trying to protect her child in the corner of the cage. The doctor took out his tranquilizer gun and shot the chimp. I couldn't believe my eyes. These people showed no signs of compassion to the animals. It made me wonder if they even had any morals at all.

     There were many moments in the film where I was in complete and utter shock. There were both, good and bad, moments. One of the things that surprised me the most was the relationships NIM had developed with some of the researchers. In particular, NIM had developed an incredible connection with Bob Ingersoll, one of the student researchers at the facility. It melted my heart when I seen how much fun and contentment the two shared. It was nice to see that at least one of the researchers had a heart. Bob wanted the chimp to be treated with respect. Even after being threatened to be arrested, he continued to fight for NIM's rights unlike the other researchers.

     I was also surprised that after the project was over, nobody visited the chimp. As the project was approaching the end, the people who had grown to become NIM's family sounded sad. Throughout the story, they had become attached to the young chimp. Stephanie Lafarge, the lady who first too NIM in, even considered herself as his mother. When I heard how devastated everybody seemed, I thought that they would for sure come back to visit NIM. Unfortunately, they did not. It took me by surprise how they would just release chimp back into the wild after living and interacting with humans his entire life. I wonder how NIM must have felt.

     Some questions that came to mind after watching the movie was why the chimps couldn't have been treated in a more humane way? In the film, I seen the living conditions of the primates and I felt disgusted. They were living in tiny compartments. Animals have feelings, too. They should be treated with respect. How would the researchers feel if they were trapped in the same place they placed the chimps? It must have felt more like a prison rather than a home. 

    Also, I wonder why Dr.Herbert Terrace, the creator of the project, sacrificed it for relationships with his fellow women workers? For instance, when Herb wanted to have a relationship with Laura, Laura left because she seen how their relationship impacted NIM's behavior. NIM would always begin to lash out when he seen the to together because he thought Herb was going to take Laura away from him. When, Laura was packing to leave the experiment, NIM threw himself onto her and started pounding her head. It took four men to take the chimp off of her. If Herb hadn't become so persistent with having a relationship with Laura, she would have stayed and they would have gotten more results from NIM.

     Feelings of hate and disgust stayed with me even after watching the documentary. Just looking at the living arrangements of the chimps makes me feel sick to my stomach. They're chained up in cages. What makes it worse, is that events similar to these still go on today. Many major companies still test make-up and other products on innocent animals. Chimpanzees aren't the only animals that are tested on. Humans tests on all animals including rats, rabbits, pigs, and even dogs. Rabbits are chemically burned when researchers test new products on them. The way humans treat animals is immoral and completely wrong.

     There seem to be many problematic concepts in the film. For instance, one of the main issues is revolved around animal testing. The way they experimented on NIM brought tears to my eyes. It's horrible that this kind of treatment towards animals still exists today. Also, I thought that letting NIM smoke weed and drink was a cruel thing to do. It does not make sense to me. The purpose of the experiment was to treat NIM like a human infant. Would a human let their baby drink and smoke? Furthermore, ethical issues come up in the film. The chimp started out being raised as a human by humans. However, he ended up as a research project where they would give him vaccines and tests. Does this project count as animal cruelty? Was it considered animal cruelty back then? Also, I question the morality of the film. One of the researchers admitted to breastfeeding the chimp. The things they did to the animal would seem completely wrong in 2017. Another problem is leaving the chimp with families who had no previous experience. The first family NIM was placed with had no idea what they were doing or how to check if the chimp was progressing. Lastly, I wonder if they took any precautions with this project. Raised by humans or not, a chimpanzee is still a wild animal. Did they not think of the danger that could have potentially occurred?  To me, it seems they did not think of the risks involved. There were many accidents with NIM acting up, hitting his teachers, bashing their heads, biting them, and many more mishaps.