In Academy Award-winning director James Marsh’s new film ‘Shadow Dancer’, the story of a young mother torn between family loyalties and personal freedom places Northern Ireland’s troubled past in a quietly personal and intimate setting. Featuring a diverse cast of British and Irish actors, and shot on location in Dublin, ‘Shadow Dancer’ is one of the most fascinating representations of the troubled period which defined Northern Ireland in recent decades.

The film begins in Belfast in 1973 with a young girl, Colette McVeigh, sending her younger brother on an errand her father had asked her to do, only to see her brother carried into their home minutes later with a gun shot to the chest. Consumed with guilt and fear, the film flashes forward twenty years to London, where an older Colette is seen planting a bomb on the London Underground and then fleeing from the scene. Quickly caught by the police, the plot takes a surprising turn when it is immediately revealed that Colette never set the timer on the bomb. From here, director Marsh calmly sets up the main drive of the film: Colette, eager to escape from her involvement with the IRA (Irish Republican Army) can either agree to work for the British police as an informant on her family’s terrorist activities or she will lose her son and be sent to jail for twenty five years.

The strength of ‘Shadow Dancer’ rests in Marsh’s ability to mine gold out of a relatively-sparse screenplay. Moments of dialogue are few and far between, and in a Q&A session following a screening at the Belfast Film Festival, Marsh revealed that this led to the significance of costume and color in scenes where characters needed to make their presences known without any verbal introduction. Colette’s red coat in particular drew attention from audience members, with one person at the Belfast Film Festival screening linking it to Marsh’s previous work on the ‘Red Riding’ series for Channel 4.

As for the cast, there is not a flaw to be found. Andrea Riseborough is captivating as Colette, a woman whose domestic struggle (staying with the ignorant way of thinking exemplified by her brothers or leaving with her son who signifies the innocence of a new generation uncorrupted by sectarian bigotry) drives the narrative. Clive Owen is equally solid as Mac, the MI5 member who takes a personal interest in ensuring her safety. Strong supporting performances come from Gillian Anderson, Brid Brennan and Martin McCann, whose quiet turns in the film respect the tone and assist in making ‘Shadow Dancer’ a successful depiction of life and hardships for the contemplative individual in the midst of ongoing political strife and painful national division.

‘Shadow Dancer’ will be released in UK cinemas on August 25.

The article ‘Shadow Dancer’: A Simmering Portrayal of Northern Irish Conflict appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Project Nim tells the story of Nim Chimpsky, a chimpanzee who was a part of an experiment about the capabilities animals have to communicate with humans. Through the well-meaning misunderstandings of the humans that cared for him, Nim experienced many trials and tribulations in his lifetime.

Nim’s story begins in 1973 when he was just two weeks old. He is ripped from his mother and transported to New York to live with a bohemian, hippie family. Stephanie LaFarge becomes his surrogate mother, and she quickly grows attached to him. She even chooses to breast feed him for several months.

Dr. Herbert Terrace started the experiment to disprove Noam Chomsky’s theory that animals are incapable of learning language, and he decided to do this by teaching Nim American Sign Language. The debate about whether or not animals have self-awareness, and can communicate that awareness to others, began around this time. But even today 40 years later, the debate continues. Terrace felt so strongly about this project that he even mocked Chomsky’s name by giving Nim a very similar name.

Part of the reason it is easy to forget that chimps are animals and still have wild instincts, is because they can do things that look so human. The conflict between a human’s love for an animal that results in the desire to transform that animal into a furry human and the animal stubbornly staying true to its natural instincts is the basis for much of the heartbreak and misery that occurs.

Director, James Marsh commented in an interview with Lauren Wisscot on globalcomment.com that part of his inspiration for Project Nim came from the documentary Grizzly Man, a story of a man whose love affair with grizzly bears ended fatally. Both films discuss the topic of turning the love for an animal into a belief that the animal is imbued with human characteristics that it simply does not possess.

The first hiccup occurs with Dr. Terrace’s choice of surrogate family. No one in the family knew very much sign language and LaFarge was more intent on developing a mother-child bond than recording scientific data. Dr. Terrace grew frustrated with the lax recording and moved Nim to an island owned by Columbia University. A young and talented undergraduate student named Laura-Ann Petittio took over the experiment at that point.

Over the next several years Nim’s signing improved dramatically and he even managed to make up some of his own signs. As he entered adolescence his animal nature began to show, and he grew more and more violent. One time he bit one of his handlers so badly that she had to be hospitalized for several months. A number of different caretakers came in and out of his life as a result of the difficult nature of handling a large, sometimes violent anima.

Once the experiment ended, no one was sure what to do with him, and he ended up in a number of places, including being subjected to various animal experiments at New York University’s medical research facility.

Nim’s story is not the only one of an animal that is subjected to the fickle will and whim of humans, but it could certainly be one of the most moving. James Marsh has been praised for his ability to make this documentary more than just a history lesson. Told through a series of narrators who were involved with Nim and enhanced by archival footage and images, it creates an amazing story that draws the viewer into Nim’s almost surreal life.

For anyone interested in what defines people and animals, or even those just wanting to watch a good—and true—story should consider either making it to one of the limited screenings this summer, or renting it when it comes out  later this year.

The article Project Nim: Groundbreaking Documentary About a Chimp appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.