"Project NIM": Discussion Questions

1) In the film, there is a scene where it shows the chimpanzees being transported to a medical facility where they would perform experiments on primates (literally called the Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates), and these chimpanzees would be sedated and kept in isolated cages. It seemed that back in the time this incident occurred, roughly 1987, not many people were extremely concerned with animal cruelty. However, one of the researchers from the facility that Nim, the chimpanzee around whom this documentary was filmed and titled, was previously transferred from, worked hard to get a lawyer to threaten the facility that he will take the case of animal cruelty against Nim to the supreme court. This was specifically in regards to Nim because - without giving away the plot of the entire film - he was raised up with humans and shared their emotions of fear, love, and pain, etc. He was eventually bought by a group that was dedicated to protecting wildlife, The Fund for Animals.

This scene got to me because it caused me to internally argue with myself regarding the morality and or the justification of animal experimentations. But then, questions like, "since chimpanzees are so much like humans, how much of them are animal?", and, " what gives us the right to experiment on them if they're so much like us?"

2) One thing that surprised me was - SPOILER ALERT - that towards the end of his 26-year-old life, Nim still retained some of the sign-language that he learned years ago. Also, when one of his caretakers - that he thought abandoned him - came to visit him towards the end of his life, he remembered her and was furious when he saw her. He even attacked her and almost killed her. What was even more surprising to me was that he could have killed her but he did not; he stopped. It just shows the level of intelligence he must have had to not go fully berserk on her and not become a complete "animal".

3) The question of, "how intelligent are chimpanzees exactly", still confuses me. Also, I still wonder how fluent Nim would have become in sign language had he gone through a full life of learning it, and if his sharp teeth were removed (because they were one of the main reasons his experiment was discontinued).

At the end of it, I felt feelings of sympathy for the chimp because he was originally given a privileged life wherein he could interact and play with people, but for the majority of the latter part of his life, he spent in isolation.

It was funny how this documentary "popped-up" in my life because after having watched it, I saw my two-year-old brother and thought he resembled Nim as an infant.

4) Some of the problematic concepts I noticed in the film include:
-Immoral experimentation of animals
-Unhealthy care of animals
-Unstable family dynamics
-Improper drug usage
-Inconsiderate Psychological care of Animals

you. Don’t hold back.

2.

What surprised you?

3.

What questions remain after the viewing?

What feelings stayed with you after the film? Did tere a specific scene that got to you? Describe and explain how it moved you (Angry?

Curious? Delighted? Motivated?).

Give

a lot of detail

, and really dive in to explain how it a

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you. Don’t hold back.

2.

What surprised you?

3.

What questions remain after the viewing?

What feelings stayed with you after the film? Did they

“pop up” in your life in unexpected ways? When? How? What was that like? after the viewing?

What feelings stayed with you after the film? Did they

“pop up” in your life in unexpected ways? When? How? What was that like?