Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786301256995
Format: Color
ISBN: 1558800891
Label: Universal Studios
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Universal Studios
Release Date: 1992-03-01
Running Time: 129
Studio: Universal Studios
Theatrical Release Date: 1988-09-23

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 terrorizing 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--whether bracing anthropologist Louis Leakey to forcibly offer her services as census-taker of the mountain gorillas; or hanging out with the noble animals until she becomes the first person on record to make friendly physical contact with them; or waging sometimes-physical war on natives and Europeans who decimate the gorillas for trophies or zoo fodder. 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 favor 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 favorite, first rests in her outstretched palm? Gorillas in the Mist will please those who savor Sigourney Weaver's Amazonian fervor and the pure fire of her physical and spiritual passion--and harbor a slightly misanthropic fondness for liaisons between beauties and beasts. --Kathleen Murphy

Customer Rating:
Summary: Portrait of a wildlife warrior
Comment: Despite the requisite Hollywood cliches, this is a great film. Dian Fossey didn't know what she was getting into when she volunteered to go to Africa, working for Dr. Louis Leakey in taking a census of the endangered Mountain Gorillas. She didn't realise she was expected to work alone, in a remote mountain hut, and in a country torn by civil war...

But she came to love the subjects of her study so much, that nothing could prize her from the mountain, not even the (human) man she eventually fell in love with. "When you look deep into a gorilla's eyes," she wrote, "your life is changed forever."

The blacks thought she was a witch, due to her reddish hair and fierce glance (captured well by actress Sigourney Weaver, although the real Dian was apparently a bit more shy than Sigourney's character). But this witchlike image actually helped to scare the poachers off. And Dian's work helped prevent the gorillas from becoming extinct. But unfortunately she was murdered by cowardly scum...black poachers in the pay of white animal traffickers. Too often the best are cut down before their life's work is finished...

One other thing to note is the incredible beauty of the landscapes, filmed on location in the mountains of Rwanda. The result is a worthy tribute to this wildlife warrior, who is now most probably in Asgard, feasting at Freyja's very table (with a gorilla at her side, no doubt).

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Gorilla's in the Mist
Comment: An incredible movie about an incredible person and the creatures she loved. This movie is enjoyable for those who like nature, animals, true stories, excellent acting, etc.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Gorillas in the Mist
Comment: Set in the 1970s, Michael Apted's reverential biopic about the life and murder of primatologist and animal-rights activist Dian Fossey is compelling for one reason only: Sigourney Weaver's Oscar-nominated, force-of-nature performance. Fearsome in her dealings with people, Fossey couldn't be gentler or more nurturing with her beloved gorillas, and Weaver is compelling in portraying these contrasting moods. Bryan Brown offers able support as Fossey's lover, photographer Bob Campbell.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: A Classic
Comment: My thirteen year old wants to be a zoologist. She watched this movie with her mouth open. A great movie then - a great movie now.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: In the mind of a gorilla
Comment: We must thank the director and salute Sigourney Weaver's beautiful performance: this movie gives us a rare insight into the lives and minds of the gentle, yet ferocious, giant mountains gorillas. It is also the amazing journey of an extroardinary woman who went to live by herself in a remote mountain of Rwanda, secluded from the world. She lost much of her sanity, as well as her life, in the process of saving the lives of a few hundred remaining gorillas. Without her work, who knows who could have saved them from savage murder and total extinction? Thanks to her work and dedication, a "lost cause" had been heard at last.

The struggle for the survival of the "Great Apes" is not totally over though. One must hope that the abject poverty and the political unrest that still affect the region, as well as the illegal poaching and smuggling of goods and animals across borders - that happen with or without government officials' approval in each country involved - and the continuing deforestation and fauna's loss of habitat, can one day all come to an end so that the survival of these amazing creatures can be achieved.

One must recognize the sacrifices and thank people like Diane Fossey, conservationists around the world, and the Rwandese people in particular, who have made it possible so far despite great internal economic and political pressures. All hope is not lost!

---