Not recommended under 14, PG to 15 (Distressing themes; Violence; Coarse language)
This topic contains:
Children under 14 | Not recommended for children due to distressing themes, violence and course language |
Children aged 14-15 | Parental guidance recommended due to distressing themes, violence and course language |
This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.
Name of movie: | Project Nim |
Classification: | M |
Consumer advice lines: | Mature themes and coarse language |
Length: | 94 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
Project Nim is a documentary which details the true life story of Nim Chimpsky, a chimpanzee who was at the centre of a controversial 1970‘s experiment to see if a chimpanzee raised as a human child could develop human language.
Herbert Terrace, a behavioural psychologist from Columbia University, was the director of Project Nim and is seen throughout the movie as instrumental to the decisions that were made for Nim and his future welfare. The movie begins at the commencement of Herbert’s experiment with the removal of Nim from his biological mother. Nim is sent to an ex-student of Herbert’s, Stephanie LeFarge, who is a mother of three children and step-mother to four. Stephanie rears Nim as her own child for a number of years. She breast-feeds, loves, nurtures and educates him until Herbert becomes concerned that Nim’s time with Stephanie and her family is not following appropriate scientific parameters.
Herbert moves Nim to a mansion in the country where he employs a number of dedicated sign language teachers and carers to take over the care of Nim.. Nim continues to astound the science world with his growing acquisition of language but his burgeoning adolescence sees him become more territorial, more sexualised and more aggressive towards his carers and teachers. After a violent attack on one of Nim’s closest teachers, Laura-Ann Petitto, his future becomes uncertain.
Five years after Nim was removed from his natural surrounds, Herbert returns him to his birth place, a university research facility. While there Nim meets pyschology masters graduate, Bob Angelini, who takes an active interest in his happiness and welfare.
Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.
Cruelty to animals; parent-child separation; human relationships with animals; experimenting on animals
Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.
Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.
There is some violence in this movie including:
Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.
In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there is a constant emotional intensity in the film and a number of scenes that could disturb children under the age of five, including the following:
Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.
The above scenes could also disturb children under the age of eight
Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.
Children in this age group are also very likely to be disturbed by the above-mentioned scenes.
Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.
Younger children in this age group are also likely to be disturbed by some of the scenes described above.
None of concern
There are some sexual references in this movie, including:
None of concern
There is some use of substances in this movie, including:
There is some coarse language in this movie, including:
Project Nim is a documentary movie which explores the debate of nature vs nurture through the life of Nim, a chimpanzee who was raised as a human child for a controversial research project.
This movie could give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:
Tip: Leave out the first A, An or The
Selecting an age will provide a list of movies with content suitable for this age group. Children may also enjoy movies selected via a lower age.
Content is age appropriate for children this age
Some content may not be appropriate for children this age. Parental guidance recommended
Content is not age appropriate for children this age
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