On G List of Movie Reviews

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Gorillas in the Mist (1988)

Rate: 9
Viewed: 1/06, 8/21

GMist
1/06: Gorillas in the Mist is a nice-looking but flawed film.

The main attraction is obviously the gorillas. Sigourney Weaver is great while Bryan Brown and John Omirah Miluwi do their part to make the picture even better. Yet it has many underdeveloped subplots, an out-of-place romance, and some poor direction.

All in all, Gorillas in the Mist doesn't tell the real story about Dian Fossey, so I refer you to a book entitled The Dark Romance of Dian Fossey by Harold Hayes which has more to explain.

8/21: After seeing Koko: A Talking Gorilla, I thought of checking out Gorillas in the Mist once more.

Apart from the Alien movies, it's Sigourney Weaver's most famous role, and she was rightly awarded an Academy Award nomination. The film is both beautiful and sad. Of course, the gorillas are the stars. A few of them are fakes, most especially the babies, because using them will invoke the wrath of their parents which is fair enough.

Dian Fossey had a reputation of being emotionally unstable which is often glossed over. Instead, she's credited with reversing the downward trend of the world's gorilla population. There are over a thousand now which is the highest ever recorded since the 60's.

Sigourney Weaver's on-screen habit of chain-smoking is actually spot-on as Fossey suffered from advanced emphysema. The high mountain altitude and damp climate didn't help, either, making her condition worse, and toward the end of Fossey's life, she needed an oxygen tank to move around.

All in all, animal lovers will like Gorillas in the Mist despite the several very strong, but purposeful, scenes.