A failed experiment: Project Nim, and what it tells us about humans

The HBO document "Project Nim" uses documentary footage (mostly home movies and stills, plus some clips from newscasts of the era) going back to the early 1970s, current interviews with the principals, and quite a bit of re-created or re-enacted footage (not identified as such but pretty obvious), and a rather persistent and annoying musical score to examine the so-called experiment in which an infant chimp was taken from its mother and raised among humans - in this case, a blended upper west side nyc family with 7 kids of varying ages. A columbia prof, Herb, was supposedly studying this chimp's acquisition of language. The problems are many: professor herb is a rampant egotist who has seemingly no scientific method for observation and gathering data, and he's also a sexual predator - ultimately, he ruins not only the experiment but the lives of several of the people involved in this scheme, though he does gain some media fame - although at least he's honest enough, years down the line, to admit that the experiment proved nothing. Despite hyped media claims, the chimp, Nim, did not acquire language. The woman who adopted him, without giving any thought to how he would affect her family or her marriage or to what it would take to raise a chimp and teach him English signs, is a total fool who learns nothing, it seems, from her attempt to interfere in the lives of others. Of course we feel bad for Nim throughout, although he's not exactly lovable, like a pet dog or horse - there are reasons why people don't keep chimps as pets - they're strong and incorrigible and dangerous, as many now know. This is a pretty good documentary about an experiment gone awry that tells us more about (some) people an their limitations than about animals and their possibilities.