Sigourney Weaver as  ...  Dian Fossey	GORILLAS IN THE MIST (1988)

Story:

Gorillas in the Mist is a based on a true story. In 1967 Dian Fossey went to Africa to study the mountain gorillas, an endangered species. Her life changed radically. With love and a lot of spirit she tries to prevent the apes from extinction. She therefore starts a fight against poachers, who are only after money. For the sake of the mountain gorillas she sacrifises her own happiness, her health and ultimately her life. This touching film is a beautiful tribute to Dian Fossey, which will have an impact on many people.

Birgitte S.C.'s opinion:

When I first saw this movie it had a huge impact on me. Before seeing this movie I didn't know anything about Dian Fossey and her fight for the preservation of the mountain gorillas in Rwanda. While watching the movie I grew to respect her for that, because I don´t think that many people would give up their luxurious life to go to the jungles in Africa for field study. By now I'm a big Fossey fan and supporter of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International. I'm very grateful Sigourney brought this to my attention through this movie. 

All negative stories that have been told about gorillas turn out to be false, and this movie helped a lot to put the gorillas in a more favourable light. Especially the bond which is growing between Dian and the gorillas is really touching. It shows how strikingly human the gorillas actually are. Sigourney Weaver is playing her best role ever, for which she received a well-deserved Oscar nomination. In my opinion she should have won it, but for some reason I don't know the Academy has never truly recognized Sigourney's talent up to now.  

The short period of time in which Dian's whole (adult) life had to be squeezed  proves to be a disadvantage.  Accuracy is not this movie's strongest point, unfortunately. It shows Dian's "dark side" quite well, but that's about all that's being done properly. Halfway the movie Dian starts coughing and if you don't know anything about Dian Fossey (she suffered from lung emphysema) it seems very weird, as it remains unexplained why she started coughing.  Beside of that Dian was wheezing instead of coughing in the final years of her life (because of the afore-mentioned lung emphysema) and she could hardly walk because of severe back-and-hip pain. It seems the makers of this movie tried to paint a romantic picture of Dian's life. The severe funding problems Dian was facing throughout her 18-year research is also not mentioned. Dian only seemed to have trouble with poachers and gorilla kidnappers, while the many problems she had with other (American) scientists and Ph.D. students are not shown. Unless you define  the scene in which Dian scolds two students who were more interested in each other than in gorillas  as "problems with Ph.D. students"...  It also seems highly unlikely to me Dian bathed in this huge bathtub inside her cabin (I don't think it would even fit in), especially not while watching a movie on a projector. And Dian playing LPs on a turntable when there was never any electricity at Karisoke? A generator only got installed in camp after Dian's death because Dian never wanted one (too much noise). Err... Right... But that's the charm of Hollywood, n'est-ce pas? 

If you're interested in what really happened, read this.

The ending is something I find very satisfactory, although it's been altered slightly. Dian had put up quite a struggle and her skull was bashed in several times. Not a pleasant sight for sure. And as this movie isn't some horror flick there was a more audience-friendly (gore-free) version instead. Although in my humble opinion Dian's real death is way more heroic. The murder on Dian has never been solved and until this day the US has been blaming poachers while the evidence proves the opposite (and somehow they're getting away with it too. Really outragous!). The movie only shows the shadow of the murderer and does not try to solve the murder, like in JFK.  The relationship with the gorillas is also portrayed faithfully, although some reviewers found it too romanticised. Needless to say that this was said by men. What do they know! Anyway, I was about as upset about Digit's death in the movie as Dian herself, so I'd say it has worked pretty well. The country of Rwanda, where the movie was filmed, is just stunningly beautiful. And that alone already makes the movie worthwhile watching.

Despite all my sputtering (I just know too much about Dian) this movie is a definite must-see!

RATING: 9 OUT OF 10

Favourite quotes:

"Get off my mountain!" - Dian Fossey