David Ansen

"Dian Fossey--one of the most acclaimed and controversial anthropologists of recent times--is a figure of such resonant contradictions perhaps only a great novelist could do her justice. [Streep could have played her well (and have Fonda play Streep's part in Cry in Dark)] Hollywood movie studios, however, do not make their fortunes on resonant contradictions. The big screen has always encouraged myth-making, so it should comes as not great surprise that the Dian Fossey of Gorillas in the Mist, stunningly played by Sigourney Weaver, emerges as a figure far more noble than neurotic, a dasing, courageous colossus of animal rights whose methods on behalf of her beloved, endangered gorillas may have gotten a wee bit extreme toward the end, but all in the name of a good cause. . . .

Still, the spectacle of Sigourney Weaver hunkering down with a family of real gorillas is quite irresistible. That one is admiring Weaver and the crew for their fortitude as much as Fossey at these moments doesn't diminish the breathtaking charm of these scenes. The audience, falling in love with the apes as she did, naturally gets emotionally sucked into the Fossey cause . . . But by turning the poachers into convenient villains the movie irresponsibly evades the tragic complexities of the tale. . . . [This may be true, but do critics say this whenever humans treat other humans unjustly? There's another side, then, too.]

"Gorillas in the Mist" is well worth seeing for Weaver's gutsy, beautifully shaded performance, for its African landscapes and for its glimpse, however incomplete, into a fascinating woman whose virtues and vices are still being hotly debated. It's odd, however, given how passionately the movie champions Fossey's work, that one comes away with so little hard knowledge about gorillas. . . .

David Ansen
Newsweek, dat