Project Nim (2011) on Netflix
PG-1320111h 33mDocumentary
In 1973 the chimpanzee Nim Chimpsky is taken to New York, where Stephanie LaFarge is told to raise him as a human child. Researchers study whether he can learn language.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb7.4/108,760 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes97%
Trailer
Plot summary
Nim Chimpsky is born in 1973 at a primate research institute in Oklahoma run by Dr. William Lemmon. Two weeks later the chimpanzee is brought to New York for a study of animal language acquisition run by Herbert S. Terrace of Columbia University. Terrace places him with Stephanie LaFarge, a former student of his, and asks her to raise him as a human child. The household is not fluent in American Sign Language. Terrace and the research assistant Laura-Ann Petitto want the experiment more tightly controlled.
Cast
- Nim Chimpskyas Self
- Stephanie LaFargeas Self
- Herbert Terraceas Self
- Wer LaFargeas Self
- Jenny Leeas Self
- Laura-Ann Petittoas Self
- Bill Tynanas Self
- Joyce Butleras Self
- Renne Falitzas Self
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Project Nim (2011)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Herbert S. Terrace, the researcher who ran Nim's language study, called Project Nim "mainly an ad hominem attack" on himself in his 2019 book Why Chimpanzees Can't Learn Language and Only Humans Can.
SPOILER
Terrace also wrote an op-ed saying the film gave his Nim project a negative portrayal, arguing the filmmakers wrongly equated his study's negative results with "failure" and ignored its "groundbreaking scientific insights."
