Do any animals, other than humans, have the ability to learn language? What are the ethical implications of taking a creature, right after birth, from its mother in order to find out? And what is the best way to try to teach an animal language? Most of these questions were explored, in some depth, by Project Nim — but not “Project Nim.” The documentary about a chimpanzee raised by humans doesn’t address these issues in any satisfactory way. That doesn’t mean it’s not a fascinating film. It asks one big, engaging question: Why on earth did anyone ever give hippies a measure of authority?
“Project Nim” doesn’t even explain how its subject got his name. Nim Chimpsky was a play on Noam Chomsky, the linguist who argues that only humans are wired to use language. Researchers have set out to prove him wrong, and Project Nim was one attempt. The chimp was taken two weeks after birth in 1973 and given to Stephanie LaFarge and raised in her brownstone on the Upper West Side.
