Lucy, the Human Chimp

There are many stories about "human" chimps; chimpanzees raised as humans, who fit in well with their adopted families until they reach maturity, whereupon they become tragic creatures, unable to live as either man or animal. This film is in fact more interesting than its title suggests; as what it really does is tell the story of the attempt to re-animalise its nominal protagonist, and of Janis, the woman who set herself the task of reintroducing her into the wild. As such, it's more a story of a simian human, who ultimately was driven from the chimpanzee community in the same way any chimp who loses a dominance struggle might be ejected. This person, however, who provides most of the narrative to the story, is not only still alive, but also intelligent and clear sighted; and has in fact devoted the rest of her life to rehabilitating chimpanzees, albeit with less intimate involvement than she had with her first patient. It's an absorbing story, illuminating by Janis's innate decency and her insight into what makes us human, and what we share with our closest living relatives.

In the end, this expose is as much about the young woman who devotes her life to trying to get a human-raised chimp to adapt to the wild. It's a study of human psychology and isolation as much as it is one of chimp behavior. Weirdly fascinating.

Most of the human and (wild) animal relationship movies are comedies and mostly targeted audience were children, families. Its either entertainment film or the documentary film.

Take for instance, take the recent film based on the real, The One and Only Ivan (2020) or any DisneyNature films. But there are some fine realistic films too we can find, and this is one of those.

Very emotional tale, reminded me of the Jane Hawking, the wife of Stephen Hawking from the film, The Theory of Everything (2014). Yes, a woman who dedicated all her life for another person, like a servant, slave. The commitment she expected nothing in return.

In this story, if she wanted, she could have looked after her own life, instead she dedicated to Lucy, a human chimp that's born in the human world, raised by the human parents and sent to live the wild life as it meant to be in the African jungle.

Was it a right decision? Very debatable among the commoners and the experts. But 40 years ago the world was different than what human think and do today.

They had not had the original footages, so they recreated it with the actors to accomplish the project. It was a short film, but very good. I hope this will turn into a real motion picture. I definitely want that.

Lucy and Jane's story was such a beautiful story. Great job to the actors portrayal. I had all the feels❤

A device that in many documentaries is either stiff or profoundly unreal but under Alex Parkinson's direction -- and with Lorna Nickson Brown in the role of Janis Carter -- rings true. The story is really about the companionship between a Human And a Chimp. James Welch Henderson Arkansas 5/4/21.