Cheap Gorillas in the Mist (DVD) (Sigourney Weaver, Bryan Brown) (Michael Apted) Price

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Customer Reviews of Gorillas in the Mist

Sigourney Weavers captures the passion bordering on obsession of Fossey who, along with Jane Goodall and Birutai Galdecas-Brind'Amour (I know I butchered the spelling there, and apologize) added to our knowledge of primates as no one else has. These three devoted women lived side-by-side with their subjects (mountain gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans, respectively), and completely changed our understanding of the animals they studied. Hurray for them and for Weaver and this film for documenting and portraying this passion!

Sigourney Scores
Exciting true-life story of Dian Fossey, the American woman who fought to save the mountain gorillas of central Africa from extinction. The film makers faced considerable obstacles in reaching the remote area of Rwanda where Fossey worked and was originally planned to be made prior to Fossey's murder in 1985, but the film--directed by Michael Apted--is nonetheless so fluidly told that most of these limitations don't show on screen. Although the excellent on-location photography is essential to Gorillas' success, the film's greatest asset is Sigourney Weaver's bigger-than-life presence as Fossey. Weaver's tremendous physique--used so effectively in making her a match for the creatures of Alien series--allows her to hold her ground with the huge gorillas. Always a charismatic on film, Weaver meets the heroic demands of the film, whether confronting poachers, communicating with gorillas, mourning their loss, or even--in the least interesting aspect of the film--falling in love with Bryan Brown as the National Geographic photographer Bob Campbell. Probably no other American actress in the 1980s could have risen to this challenge as she did. The all-too seldom seen Julie Harris also has a small part as a Rwandan plantation owner and adds her own luminosity to her few scenes. Rick Baker ingeniously handled the film's make-up, mixing both made-up and real gorillas. As suggested above, the film does have a few drawbacks: much like the relationship between Meryl Streep and Robert Redford in 1985's Out of Africa, the romance between Weaver and Brown feels tacked on, and it is less interesting than her relationship to the gorillas. Also, Weaver's descent into seeming madness (which Weaver's unexplained coughing in the last section of the film suggests may have been prompted by her declining health) occurs suddenly in the sequence immediately following the end of her romance with Brown. I wonder how Weaver's character

might have been developed at the end of the film had not Fossey's murder occurred while the film was still being planned: would the end of her romance with Brown have been the end of the film, with a conclusion emphasizing the courage of her decision? And, if so, is that why the final mad sequence occurs so suddenly?

Tragedy Turning To Triumph
"Gorillas In the Mist" is one of the Top 10 films released in 1988. It explores Dian Fossey's life in Africa during her struggle to save the gorilla population, whom were close to extinction. The producers and the writers wonderfully desplict the emotional value of the times: determination, leadership, loneliness, love, friendship, and many more. The movie events are accurate to the actual events. Their research on the gorillas and Dian Fossey proves well thorough. Sigourney Weaver plays Fossey beautifully in her well-deserved Golden Globe winning and Oscar nominated role(Best Actress). Her every drop of heart and soul is poured into the character in every scene. No other actress could perform this role at this level. All other actors also performed their roles wonderfully. "Gorillas In the Mist" is a triumphant movie perfect for all audiences. This film will be a classic in a few years.