Gorillas In The Mist [DVD] [1988]

Description

Product Description Sigourney Weaver plays Diane Fossey, crusader for the protection of gorillas, in this dramatisation of her life. A dedicated scientist, Fossey devoted her whole life to studying gorillas and produced ground breaking research into their natures. But her fiercely protective nature led to frequent run-ins with the authorities and poachers - (the real Diane Fossey was killed by poachers when this film was in production). .co.uk Review Sigourney Weaver more than earned her Oscar nomination for Best Actress in Gorillas in the Mist, dominating every frame of Michael Apted's biopic about primatologist Dian Fossey. Tenderly mothering an orphaned gorilla infant or terrorising an African poacher with a staged lynching, the statuesque star is never less than fiercely focused, a glamorous warrior for animal rights. As the amateur scientist who researched and spotlighted Rwanda's endangered mountain gorillas in National Geographic, Weaver is the passionate heart that keeps an otherwise flaccid film alive. Unfortunately, the film's stodgy script and direction simply document Fossey's magnificent obsession, offering no insight into what lonely impulse of the soul led this extraordinary woman to climb up an African mountain to bond so strongly with gorillas. Cardboard characters include an eternally smiling, sexless African soulmate (John Omirah Miluwi), a perfect boyfriend (Bryan Brown) who has to be dumped in favour of gorilla-love, and stereotypical villains. Still, the African scenery is spectacular, and who can resist the cross-species thrill when the huge dark hand of Digit, Fossey's favourite, first rests in her outstretched palm? Gorillas in the Mist will please those who savour Sigourney Weaver's ian fervour and the pure fire of her physical and spiritual passion--and harbour a slightly misanthropic fondness for liaisons between beauties and beasts. --Kathleen Murphy