Customer Reviews

Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey [VHS]

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Although I'm labeled "horror buff", I just had to write a review of this film depicting the life of famed Dr. Dian Fossey. Heads up to Warner Brothers for giving us a glimpse into the world of a woman who ultimately gave her life to save and protect the few mountain gorillas remaining in Africa. Dian devoted 18 years of her life to researching and understanding these wonderful primates. This film shows Dian's vunerable side along with her determined side to do what ever it took to save the gorillas who are supposed to be protected by the parks. Sigourney Weaver shines in her role and was the perfect choice for this movie. She approached it with reckless abandon. Although Dian lost her life trying to save the remaining gorillas, we get to see how one person was responsible for doing so much for the gorillas. With heartwarming scenes with her and her beloved Digit, to heartbreaking scenes like when she had to turn over Pucker, the infant gorilla she nursed back to health, to a zoo and the horrible death of Digit, this movie captivates you from beginning to end. For anyone who is interested in the few remaining mountain gorillas, this movie will really open your eyes and make you route for Dian. Although with a tragic ending with Dian's death and burial next to Digit, it's a true love story not only between her and Bob Campbell, but between her and the gorillas she loved so much. I wish I could give this movie more than 5 stars!! Definetly a movie to own and to cherish... for her memory will never be forgotten as her work carries on thru The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International to this day.

I highly recommend this movie to anyone who has never seen it. I did find the poaching scenes very disturbing and difficult to watch but that may be because I am a passionate animal lover and activist. They are however vital to bringing an understanding to the poor gorilla's plight. Who would ever want a gorilla hand ashtray anyway....GROSS! It also broke my heart when Sigourney Weaver had to give up the orphaned gorilla she nursed back to health to the zoo broker only to find out she died a year later. If it weren't for Dian Fossey efforts, gorillas might very well be extinct by now. My praise goes out to her, as well as Ms. Weaver for the splendid job she did in portraying her.

Weaver gives an oscar winning performance in Gorilla's in the mist, which is a tryue story about a primatologist named Dian Fossey. It's a very compassionate film, but can also be a tearjerker as it demonstrates the lack of respect for wild animals that people have, and the heartless murder of magnificant and fascinating animals who are just trying to enjoy their freedom in the wild and protect their babies from our species and other predators.

This is a stunning film, in terms of cinematography, subject, and acting. Weaver is phenomenal, her best performance yet. The honest depiction of Fossey makes the film more amazing. It is a heart-wrenching account of the protection of the mountain gorilla and should be viewed by everyone.

"Gorillas In the Mist" is one of the Top 10 films released in 1988. It explores Dian Fossey's life in Africa during her struggle to save the gorilla population, whom were close to extinction. The producers and the writers wonderfully desplict the emotional value of the times: determination, leadership, loneliness, love, friendship, and many more. The movie events are accurate to the actual events. Their research on the gorillas and Dian Fossey proves well thorough. Sigourney Weaver plays Fossey beautifully in her well-deserved Golden Globe winning and Oscar nominated role(Best Actress). Her every drop of heart and soul is poured into the character in every scene. No other actress could perform this role at this level. All other actors also performed their roles wonderfully. "Gorillas In the Mist" is a triumphant movie perfect for all audiences. This film will be a classic in a few years.

I purchased this dvd for my very passionate son's 11th birthday. When he opened it his eyes filled with tears. He has loved gorillas, chimps, and all primates since he was very young. I watched the movie before and was a little concerned about his reaction to Digit's murder. It was as I expected, he cried in my arms. His dream is to grow up and move to Africa to help in the survival of this extraordinary species. The movie was given to him for encouragment from Ms. Fossey with all her beliefs and struggles. We as the human race have a responsibility for all species on Earth. This movie will open your eyes and make you realize how vain and selfish humans can be and it also shows that one person can make a difference and is still making a difference years after her death.

What strikes me about Mrs. Weaver is that she was also touched by Fossey's accomplishments and she is an honorary chair person for the Dian Fossey Gorilla International Fund.

Dian Fossey wrote this passage in her journal, "When you realize the value of all life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate on the preservation of the future."

I hope this review helps you decide whether to buy the movie or not and brings at least one more person to acknowledge we must all do our part.

Ah, PBS. Periodically I'll check it, mostly out of moribund curiosity (and little else). Occasionally public television will have something on that warrants a second glance; and recently I stumbled across PBS showing GORILLAS IN THE MIST. As I had never seen this highly-acclaimed Sigourney Weaver movie, I pulled up a chair and watched this powerful biography of environmentalist/animal rights activist Dian Fossey. The viewer is treated to quite the transformation of Ms. Fossey (and Weaver is the convincing vessel)--from meek, timid marm to brash, and quite frankly, petulant and neurotic radical. By the end of this film you don't want to get on Dian Fossey's bad side; of course, several poachers and corrupt government officials do, and things kind of turn out. . .ugly.

But the true wonder and awe of this beautifully filmed movie has to do with the actual contact with wild gorillas, you know, in the mist. These aren't people dressed up as apes, these aren't trained animals--these are the real deal, with Weaver and co-star Bryan Brown and a handful of the other actors making close encounters of the very realistic kind. Especially Weaver; as I watched her interact with the gorillas, as some of them playfully jump over her or groom her, I wondered what was going through director Michael Apted's mind. (Probably something like, "I hope that Lloyd's policy we have on Sigourney is in force!") Filmed in the mountains of Rwanda, this interaction between man (well, woman) and beast is so vividly stunning; I found myself picking my jaw up off the floor more than once. Small wonder Weaver received an Oscar nomination for this role. After holding hands with a wild silver back male she deserved it.
--D. Mikels, Author, The Reckoning

It's so great to see a major Hollywood production about a conservationist hero - and a good film no less. Gorillas in the Mist covers the life of Dian Fossey, often viewed by many as a patron saint of gorilla conservation. The movie was inspired by her memoirs Gorillas in the Mist, with some added liberties (such as the end of the film). Fossey herself was a relatively unsung hero (especially when compared to Jane Goodall) who almost single-handedly saved the mountain gorilla species by confronting poachers and raising public awareness of the gorillas. Although this is based on a true story, this movie has more action and suspense than most Hollywood films in theaters today. It features a civil war, roving gangs of hunters, corrupt ministry officials, messy romance, and murders of both gorillas and humans. I won't ruin the plot, but think Indiana Jones - The Complete Adventure Collection meets Planet Earth. All in the life of a conservation biologist!

Sigourney Weaver, not always the best actress outside of sci-fi films, does a great job portraying Fossey. She starts off awkwardly, but by the middle of the film she really captures Fossey's passion. At times, she seems almost possessed and overcome with her mission, a one-man army in a war against poachers. At one point in the movie, I forgot that she ever played Ripley in the Alien Quadrilogy and became completely immersed in her acting.

What makes the film all the more impressive is that the production crew filmed on location in Virungas, Rwanda. The gorillas in the film are not zoo animals or trained animal actors (as I thought the first time I watched the movie), but rather real, live wild gorillas. All of the footage with the gorillas was taken in their natural habitat, including the instances when the silverbacks charge the actors! The gorillas were so natural and photogenic that you almost suspect that they realize they're being filmed and portray their best side.

I really hope one day somebody goes back to make a "special edition" of this film for blu-ray. At times, the video quality is a bit grainy and could really benefit from enhancements. The beautiful imagery in the film - the green mountains, close-ups of gorillas, etc. - would look great in an enhanced blu-ray edition. Maybe also include some wildlife documentaries about gorillas, such as Mountain Gorilla (IMAX), or a brief documentary on Fossey's life (with interviews from those who knew her). I hope this movie doesn't remain obscure - more people would benefit from seeing it and understanding the problems gorillas face in the wild.

I'd love to read Fossey's Gorillas in the Mist to see how accurate the movie is. If the movie is anything near accurate, Fossey led an incredible life and had an amazing force of will. This movie is a fitting tribute.

This is such a wonderful movie. It's filled with passion and emotion. And it made me see mountain gorillas in a different light, a good light. I highly reccomend this to everyone.
But just to warn you this movie is not exactly factual with everything. Some things in it are exaggerated and are not true. That's hollywood for ya. But I suggest to read Dian Fossey's book "Gorillas in the Mist" to understand her story and the saving of mt. gorillas better.

Exciting true-life story of Dian Fossey, the American woman who fought to save the mountain gorillas of central Africa from extinction. The film makers faced considerable obstacles in reaching the remote area of Rwanda where Fossey worked and was originally planned to be made prior to Fossey's murder in 1985, but the film--directed by Michael Apted--is nonetheless so fluidly told that most of these limitations don't show on screen. Although the excellent on-location photography is essential to Gorillas' success, the film's greatest asset is Sigourney Weaver's bigger-than-life presence as Fossey. Weaver's tremendous physique--used so effectively in making her a match for the creatures of Alien series--allows her to hold her ground with the huge gorillas. Always a charismatic on film, Weaver meets the heroic demands of the film, whether confronting poachers, communicating with gorillas, mourning their loss, or even--in the least interesting aspect of the film--falling in love with Bryan Brown as the National Geographic photographer Bob Campbell. Probably no other American actress in the 1980s could have risen to this challenge as she did. The all-too seldom seen Julie Harris also has a small part as a Rwandan plantation owner and adds her own luminosity to her few scenes. Rick Baker ingeniously handled the film's make-up, mixing both made-up and real gorillas. As suggested above, the film does have a few drawbacks: much like the relationship between Meryl Streep and Robert Redford in 1985's Out of Africa, the romance between Weaver and Brown feels tacked on, and it is less interesting than her relationship to the gorillas. Also, Weaver's descent into seeming madness (which Weaver's unexplained coughing in the last section of the film suggests may have been prompted by her declining health) occurs suddenly in the sequence immediately following the end of her romance with Brown. I wonder how Weaver's character

might have been developed at the end of the film had not Fossey's murder occurred while the film was still being planned: would the end of her romance with Brown have been the end of the film, with a conclusion emphasizing the courage of her decision? And, if so, is that why the final mad sequence occurs so suddenly?