Recounting the life of renowned field researcher and
primatologist Jane Goodall, the absorbing new documentary, “Jane,” is built from
more than 100 hours of recently rediscovered 16-millimeter footage shot in the
1960’s by National Geographic photographer (and Jane’s eventual husband) Hugo
van Lawick.
Despite
having no training or scientific degree, Goodall headed off to Gombe at the age of 26 to live with and observe the
chimpanzees. We see firsthand the long, arduous process Goodall undertook to
gain the animals’ trust, allowing her to collect reams of groundbreaking data
on the animals’ behavior.
Voiceover
from a present-day interview with Goodall allows her to offer some perspective
on her work, and it’s an endlessly fascinating story. Director Brett Morgen
(“The Kid Stays in the Picture”) for the most part is content to let the
gorgeous footage do the talking, which is a wise decision: it’s simply
astonishing.
This article appears in Dec 13-19, 2017.
