So for the first time a species is able to communicate about something which isn’t present, make plans for the distant future, and discuss an idea. The main difference, I feel, is the explosive development of the human intellect, which I suspect has been triggered in large part by the fact that we came up with this ability to communicate in the way that you and I are doing right now, with words. What has your study of chimpanzees impressed you with concerning the non-humanness of chimpanzees, and the ways in which they’re unlike us? In your work you’ve emphasized some of the connections between human beings and chimpanzees. I think people who really understand will perhaps tolerate it, knowing that so many people won’t understand at all without the narration. On balance, I think is okay, and some of it’s quite funny. But this is a film geared to the great big general public, including young people. Maybe in places the commentary could have been toned down a little bit. People who know nothing about the chimpanzees might have been very confused if there weren’t some commentary to help them understand, more or less in human terms, what was going on. And of course we don’t know what is going on in the chimpanzee mind. Well, yes, a lot of people have talked about that. Some people, including myself, felt the movie pressed the anthropomorphic angle too much - for example, the way it presented the two rival chimp groups almost as movie heroes and villains. How they share many of our emotions, and the way they think. People will see how like us chimpanzees are. And they’ll realize that baby chimps belong in their communities, and how cruel it would be to take them away from their mothers. They’ll realize that underneath the tough exterior of a male chimp can be a tenderness which we’ve recorded on a number of occasions.Īlthough they’ll fall in love with adorable little “Oscar,” people should also realize that he’ll grow up to be like the leader of, quote, the “enemy” chimp community, and they won’t think any longer about buying a baby chimp as a pet. They’ll come away totally in love with the infant who’s the star of the film, and moved by the tender side that emerges in the great big dominant alpha male. I think the whole thing taken together will give people a real feeling for what it’s like for chimpanzees out in the wild, and that will be new for most people. What misconceptions about chimpanzees do you think people still have? Will this film help to correct any of them? In your work you’ve upended a lot of misconceptions about chimpanzees and discovered behavior that no one suspected - some of which is in this film, like chimps hunting colobus monkeys. And then on top of all that, you’ve got this extraordinary story unfolding within the chimpanzee community - a behavior which is almost unheard of. It’s a mixture of unbelievably good cinematography, fantastic behavior of the chimpanzees, the incredible feeling the filmmakers have got for what it’s like to be deep in the forest, the spectacular views of the whole area from above. Well, it just puts them all in the shade. How does it compare to other chimpanzee documentaries you’ve seen? Jane Goodall: Oh yes, I have, and I would see it again.
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