In 1960, a young British woman with no scientific background and no degree was chosen to undertake a research mission in Gombe, Tanzania. It was a project that would radically change our thinking on primate behaviour. Jane Goodall combined a lifelong passion for animals with the ability to appear breezily unflappable and impeccably soignée, even when clambering through the undergrowth in search of chimpanzees.
This fascinating portrait of the woman and her work comes from Oscar-nominated director Brett Morgen, hitherto best known for films that explore the ecology of the entertainment industry (The Kid Stays in the Picture, Cobain: Montage of Heck).
Morgen had access to previously unseen film from the National Geographic archive. The colour-saturated footage has a lush, heightened quality, which is complimented by a tumbling score by Philip Glass. But the film’s main asset is undoubtedly the magnificent Goodall, as poised, articulate and engaged in her 80s as she was in her fearless 20s, living alongside animals who, as Morgen bluntly points out, could have ripped her face off.
