Gorillas in the Mist (1988)

☆ ☆ ☆

Gorillas in the Mist (1988) – M. Apted

Watching this nearly 30-year-old conservation-focused movie now (for the first time) prompts immediate questions about the current status of the mountain gorilla.  Surprisingly, there is some good news: apparently a recovery is in progress – the population is around 880, up from 620 in 1989, according to the WWF. (But of course efforts need to continue to save them).  I also wondered where Dian Fossey (the gorillas’ champion and a folk hero for two decades) was today, only vaguely remembering that she was murdered in Rwanda in 1985, something that would have been more salient to audiences in 1988.  The movie does end with this event and its final 30 minutes set up her fate by showing a dramatic change from wide-eyed affection (toward gorillas) to wild-eyed hostility (toward poachers, the Rwandan government, her own assistants, etc.).  Sigourney Weaver is fine as Fossey but the gorillas are the main thing; the production used a combination of real gorillas in the wild (amazingly shot on location), chimpanzees in make-up, and gorilla suits designed by horror artiste Rick Baker.  The plot includes romance (with Bryan Brown), action (attacks by poachers), and a lot of oohing and ahhing by Weaver; in fact, the plot seems to detract from the focus on Dian Fossey and her character (as Roger Ebert pointed out), not letting us inside her head much at all.   The movie also feels dated, with 1980s style/fashion somehow intruding.  Perhaps it is ironic, then, that the director was Michael Apted, most famous for his involvement with the 7 Up series (with its next instalment 63 Up! due in 2019).  Thinking into the future, it’s hard not to imagine a world ravaged by climate change and many endangered animals wiped out.