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Gorillas In The Mist on DVD (1988)

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Average rating: 71%
1112315201937
3.5
from 962 members
 
Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Bryan Brown, Julie Harris, Iain Glen, Iain Cuthbertson, John Omirah Miluwi
Director: Michael Apted
Studio: WARNER HOME VIDEO
Run time: 124 mins
Certificate: 12
User collections: My all-time favourites
Genres: Drama
Languages: English
Released: 03/02/2003

Brief synopsis of Gorillas In The Mist

Based on anthropologist Dian Fossey's autobiography, and an article by Harold T. P. Hayes, GORILLAS IN THE MIST is a portrait of the determined woman who will do anything to save the mountain gorillas that she studies, and for whose well-being she has a passionate commitment. In the process, she draws international attention to their declining population, yet her obsessive work to save them also eclipses her personal life and brings her into ruinous confrontation with relentless, impoverished poachers. At times recalling Joseph Conrad's HEART OF DARKNESS, the film touches on both Fossey's nobility--and inhumanity. To capture her passion, and the sublime African landscape, director Michael Apted shot on location in Rwanda, where the anthropologist lived and worked. Sigourney Weaver, playing Fossey, gives an intense portrayal (garnering an Academy Award nomination) of the woman who almost singlehandedly reversed the extinction of the mountain gorillas in Africa.

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Critics Reviews

Rating of 4 stars out of 5 Radio Times

Sigourney Weaver gives a tour-de-force performance in this fascinating account of Dian Fossey's ground-breaking research into the closed world of the gorilla. She admirably presents a warts-and-all portrait of the woman who slowly gained access to a tribe of remote primates facing extinction; according to Michael Apted's biographical drama, Fossey's passion for her gorillas was offset by her coldness as a human being and a commitment to her work that bordered on obsession. Apted's direction is sympathetic and he makes the most of the stunning jungle location. Bryan Brown is good as Weaver's lover, but the real acting accolades must go to the apes themselves.

Time Out

Apted's biopic about the late Diane Fossey's mission to save the endangered mountain gorilla has, to some extent, been... Read more on www.timeout.com

Rating of 1 stars out of 4 Halliwell's Film Guide

Respectful, unenlightening biopic.

See all 3 Critics Reviews »

Members Reviews

Reviews Voted Most Helpful

Rated - 5 starsPure Genius

G-Man from Essex , 20/09/2004

Sigourney Weaver more than earned her Oscar nomination for Best Actress in Gorillas in the Mist, dominating every frame of Michael Apted's biopic about primatologist Dian Fossey. Tenderly mothering an orphaned gorilla infant or terrorising an African poacher with a staged lynching, the statuesque star is never less than fiercely focused, a glamorous warrior for animal rights. As the amateur scientist who researched and spotlighted Rwanda's endangered mountain gorillas in National Geographic, Weaver is the passionate heart that keeps an otherwise flaccid film alive.

Unfortunately, the film's stodgy script and direction simply document Fossey's magnificent obsession, offering no insight into what lonely impulse of the soul led this extraordinary woman to climb up an African mountain to bond so strongly with gorillas. Cardboard characters include an eternally smiling, sexless African soulmate (John Omirah Miluwi), a perfect boyfriend (Bryan Brown) who has to be dumped in favour of gorilla-love, and stereotypical villains. Still, the African scenery is spectacular, and who can resist the cross-species thrill when the huge dark hand of Digit, Fossey's favourite, first rests in her outstretched palm? Gorillas in the Mist will please those who savour Sigourney Weaver's Amazonian fervour and the pure fire of her physical and spiritual passion--and harbour a slightly misanthropic fondness for liaisons between beauties and beasts.

  4 out of 4 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 4 starsAn oldie but lovely

WendyC1 from London , 05/06/2005

I requested this as I was off to see the mountain gorillas in Uganda for myself and had missed this film the first time around. Sigourney Weaver is fantastic and I now know that the scenery is every bit as dramatic as in the film and the gorillas are amazing!

Be inspired to go and see for yourself!!

  2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 5 starsGorillas in the Mist

A customer from devon , 07/11/2004

Fantastic, the filming was brilliant and the fact that it was based on true life story made it even more moving

  1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
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Rated - 5 starsa tale of good and evil

A customer from glasgow,scotland , 17/01/2007

i absolutely loved this film for all the tender moments sigourney has with the gorillaz was very very moving also the film disgusted me with what the human being is capable of these harmless and sensitive animals have the same right we have of occupying earth i just couldn't believe what i was seeing before my eyes in it made me sick to the core but anyway what a terrific job sigurney weaver did in this a very touching movie i'd love to actually go to rwanda myself and experience this.

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Most Recent Reviews

Rated - 5 starsPure Genius

G-Man from Essex , 20/09/2004

Sigourney Weaver more than earned her Oscar nomination for Best Actress in Gorillas in the Mist, dominating every frame of Michael Apted's biopic about primatologist Dian Fossey. Tenderly mothering an orphaned gorilla infant or terrorising an African poacher with a staged lynching, the statuesque star is never less than fiercely focused, a glamorous warrior for animal rights. As the amateur scientist who researched and spotlighted Rwanda's endangered mountain gorillas in National Geographic, Weaver is the passionate heart that keeps an otherwise flaccid film alive.

Unfortunately, the film's stodgy script and direction simply document Fossey's magnificent obsession, offering no insight into what lonely impulse of the soul led this extraordinary woman to climb up an African mountain to bond so strongly with gorillas. Cardboard characters include an eternally smiling, sexless African soulmate (John Omirah Miluwi), a perfect boyfriend (Bryan Brown) who has to be dumped in favour of gorilla-love, and stereotypical villains. Still, the African scenery is spectacular, and who can resist the cross-species thrill when the huge dark hand of Digit, Fossey's favourite, first rests in her outstretched palm? Gorillas in the Mist will please those who savour Sigourney Weaver's Amazonian fervour and the pure fire of her physical and spiritual passion--and harbour a slightly misanthropic fondness for liaisons between beauties and beasts.

  4 out of 4 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 5 starsa tale of good and evil

A customer from glasgow,scotland , 17/01/2007

i absolutely loved this film for all the tender moments sigourney has with the gorillaz was very very moving also the film disgusted me with what the human being is capable of these harmless and sensitive animals have the same right we have of occupying earth i just couldn't believe what i was seeing before my eyes in it made me sick to the core but anyway what a terrific job sigurney weaver did in this a very touching movie i'd love to actually go to rwanda myself and experience this.

  1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
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