Jane Goodall sends her greetings from the land of chimpanzees

Shy approach between Jane Goodall and a baby chimp. (Image: PD)

It could be a melodrama. Only its protagonists are not humans, but highly developed animals. It begins with birth and ends with death, followed soon after another: A chimpanzee laments for his mother and he kills himself only a few weeks later. These and other events are told by the naturalist Jane Goodall, who appropriates a nice tribute to Brett Morgen with his new work.

From Watcher to Companion

His curiosity, enthusiasm and, above all, his love of nature are his own icon in the field of behavioral science. Even as a teenager, she goes to the servers to finance her trip to Africa. Several years later, the pioneer of Gombe (Tanzania) begins her study of primates. Their goal is clear: they want to know if "the behavior of the apes opens a window on the past of the man".

An observer soon becomes a consort, who believes he has more and more similarities with his own species. She is particularly surprised when one of the monkeys uses a stick as a termite hunting tool. The director of "Jane" meticulously assembled this scene with anatomical and artistic sketches of the human hand. "Either we redefine humanity or we consider chimpanzees as human beings," the researcher sums up in a letter. Like many, it ends with "Greetings from the land of chimpanzees".

To document this unique and close relationship between Goodall and the named primates, Tomorrow can tap into more than a hundred hours of archival material. Among them, many treasures: photographs of Jane climbing or sneaking in the bushes with binoculars in hand, newspaper excerpts with drawings, diagrams and personal notes, detail sequences of 39, birds and insects chimpanzees. It is striking that Goodall almost always shows it with his camera at eye level, even though they are in the top treetops. She shows it as a counterpart, with admiration and devotion.

Beyond the existing sources, the director also offers excerpts from a self-taught interview with the British, still very busy today. Not only do we become aware of a passionate animal lover, but also of a strong woman who knows how to affirm in her early years both in the wilderness and in her scientific community at the time. long-standing critical spirit. At first, she stops at her mother's house, later in the famous nature filmmaker Hugo van Lawick, with whom she also has a son who grows up with chimpanzees

Dreams of a better world

Before his life due to a gap between the family of chimpanzees With a tragic turning point, the documentary gives us a real treat for all the senses: we look at picturesque panoramas on the beach and the setting sun on the beach. Africa with passages of virtuoso violin and Philip Glass piano, getting impressions of spiritual power to remember paradise. It may be that this morning tends a little to the transfiguration of its protagonist. His approach to Goodall is less critical than admiring.

Already in his film "Cobain: Montage of Heck" (2015), there is a similar celebration of the singer of the rock band Nirvana. Tomorrow, it's enthusiasm for personalities who, despite, or perhaps because of their non-convention, have achieved fame. Bringing your contagious passion to the screen is your concern. Thus, "Jane" awakens in us dreams of a better world, but not as a naive dream fantasy, but as a form of action of possibility.