Review of Gorillas in the Mist

First of all, I'm an anthropologist who had the (dis)pleasure of meeting the late Dian Fossey in Africa in 1976. She was nothing like the character given to us by Sigourney Weaver. In terms of what is presented in the film, based largely on her book by the same title, she was a loner, a sociopath and a thoroughly unpleasant person with no tolerance for the opinions or views of others that did not square with hers. No, she did not deserve to be brutally murdered as she was in 1986. But, she did relate to the gorillas and related passionately. This much in the film was true. I won't go into all the sordid details because it serves no purpose. Reading the reviews here, most viewers came away with an appreciation for the destruction of the mountain gorilla, their habitat and their species. Dian Fossey for all her faults ranted and raved against the injustice of it all and tried in her maniacal way to do something about it. We can criticize her for her complete lack of people skills but her work as a careful observer of gorilla behavior and as a skillful photographer will endure long after we have forgotten what a pain she was personally. By the way, the late Louis S.B. Leakey, like Dian Fossey, never completed a doctorate. Not that they needed it. Leakey was a great showman, fantastic fund raiser and both were passionate about Africa. Leakey, his wife, son and now, ex-daughter-in-law, have contributed greatly to our understanding of fossil hominids. Leakey was arguing humans evolved in Africa long before it was fashionable. Not only that, Leakey was the one who got a shy,soft-spoken English girl to go out and observe chimpanzees. Jane Goodall has contributed greatly to our understanding of the role these close relatives of out play in helping us understand human evolution. Dian Fossey's work, while not great in terms of its theoretical contributions, has nevertheless made most of us aware of the issues facing the preservation of the mountain gorilla. The movie? Well, there are some facts in it...even if they're highly romanticized and a bit distorted.