Chimpanzee

The documentary follows a group of chimpanzees in West Africa. There is a small one among them; his name is Oscar. He moves through the forest with his mother, learns to look for food and tries using a stone to crack nuts. The group fights another group over territory. After the fight Oscar's mother does not come back. The young one is left alone and nobody in the group looks after him; a chimpanzee that age cannot survive alone. Then something unexpected happens: Freddy, the leader of the group, takes him on. Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield direct. Tim Allen narrates. It was released under the Disneynature label. It was shot in the rainforests of Côte d'Ivoire and Uganda across several years. Oscar being taken on by an adult male is not staged; the behaviour is very rare in chimpanzees and the team did not expect it when they recorded it. The film shows nuts being cracked with stones; this use of tools is particular to the region and learned between groups. The matter it treats is the relation of care inside a group, and the narrative sets that into the shape of a story. Its limit is the telling; the narration gives the animals names and intentions and slides into a children's register in places. Another limit is the cutting; the section of the fight is arranged to a dramatic shape. Who it is for: viewers who like nature documentary and watching with the family. Who it is not for: the narration is too directing, the scientific content shallow, and some sections upsetting.