Chimpanzee and the Idealized Family

Despite the “Disneyfication” of its mood-inducing score and a narration by Tim Allen that anthropomorphizes its animal subjects, Disney Nature’s Chimpanzee (2012) most effectively and authentically illustrates the strength of combining extended and nuclear family structures because it relies solely on documentary footage of a young chimpanzee’s coming of age. Originally the filmmakers planned to document Oscar’s relationship with his mother, Isha, but after she is killed, they continue filming, and by accident, record an unlikely relationship between alpha male Freddy and the now-orphaned Oscar.  This accidental footage also demonstrates the absurdity of our assumptions that such empathetic bonds between males are possible only in human culture.

Overhead shots of a rainforest through clouds introduce the film’s “deepest Africa” setting, and a crane down toward the trees presents the film’s chief characters, a troop of chimpanzees welcoming new life, a “precious baby boy named Oscar,” the focus of this story. Close-ups of Oscar and his mother, Isha, provide a high cuteness quotient in this troop of thirty-five chimpanzees, while also emphasizing the dual familial perspectives of the film that illustrate extended and alternative nuclear approaches.

The extended family unit is displayed in multiple scenes in the movie. Scenes show the troop members working together to nurture their children and gather food, using rocks as tools to break open nuts. The narrator tells us the grandfather is 50 in this rich society in the heart of the jungle. Scenes in the nut grove introduce the troop’s alpha male, Freddy, who uses a stick to grab ants out of a hollow branch, “bugs in a sock,” according to our narrator. Oscar leaves his mother’s side, enjoying independence after three months or so. The narrator tells us “dinner isn’t in the same neighborhood,” however, introducing a major conflict in the film, that between rival troops of chimpanzees battling over fruit and nut groves.

This extended family unit depends on Freddy's dominance. In one scene, for example, the music grows ominous when the troop is attacked by the rival troop led by Scar, their “formidable leader.” As the narrator explains, “for Aisha, it’s run or die.” Freddy leads the escape.  “Their enemies have won a small victory but have yet to win the war.” The grove of nut trees in the center of Freddy’s land will serve as the point of the standoff, we’re told, because Scar must conquer it to ensure his troop thrives. Aisha keeps her son safe while Oscar learns the skills he needs to survive. Overhead shots of trees and waterfalls substantiate the richness of Freddy’s territory. Mist rises from the water highlighting Oscar and Aisha’s entrance to the nut grove from beneath the falls. The nuts are in season, so it’s time for a feast. The scene is celebratory, and Oscar’s ploys for food are humorous.

Scar reinforcement of his own dominance for his troop highlights the need for an alternative nuclear family structure. Freddy and his troop stock up on fruit, especially fruit from fig trees  and the nut grove with which Freddy plans to protect and sustain the family, but Scar and his troop have wiped out the fruit in their territory and enter Freddy’s for his figs and nuts. The music signals Scar’s arrival. Lightning provides a spectacular backdrop for the battle and serves as cover for Scar’s raid. Freddy’s troop is in disarray, and Oscar is separated from his mother. Her death emphasizes the authenticity of this extended family structure, while also introducing a new vision of a nuclear family stressing the empathetic possibilities of an alpha male.  

The film takes the time to demonstrate how this alternative nuclear family evolves. Too young to feed or care for himself, Oscar is losing weight, the narrator explains, and other mothers reject him because they can care only for their own young. Ultimately Oscar approaches Freddy and follows the leader to the best and safest place to eat. In an unusual turn, Freddy offers “gentle acceptance, more than Oscar could have hoped for,” serving as the surrogate parent Oscar needed to survive. Freddy even allows Oscar to ride on his back—something usually only a mother would allow. According to the narrator, Freddy even offers Oscar the first pick of nuts. Freddy is completely devoted to Oscar, an astonishing occurrence because the highest-ranking male even grooms the lowest.

The film also demonstrates that an alpha male can effectively serve as parent to both child and troop in chimpanzee culture. Although the narrator calls his devotion to Oscar a distraction, Freddy and his troop defeat Scar and his troop when they vie for the nut grove. Because Scar has rivals, some of them hold back, perhaps demonstrating that Freddy’s more balanced approach is the most successful. Oscar and Freddy transform a new beginning with the most unlikely foster parent in the forest. A softer side was there all along, the narrator tells us. The chimps begin to play again with the opening music—“I’m in a little bit of trouble.” The film moves out to an overhead shot, and Oscar’s story ends. But the film continues, showing viewers how the scenes were filmed, making the filmmakers’ walk through the forest in the Ivory Coast transparent.  The credits roll over footage of Oscar and Freddy grooming one another. As the credits end, the film tells us where viewers can go to help sustain a chimp population now 1/5 the size it was in 1960, but it is the relationship between Oscar and Freddy that stands out. 

In Chimpanzee, the filmmakers stumble upon and document an unusual parent/child relationship that highlights nonhuman animals as persons and, as Pete Porter explains, “encourage[s] the formation of a human-animal relationship characterized by respect and mutually beneficial reciprocation” (400).  It also illustrates well how flexible definitions of family may be, even in wild nature. The “realistically” photographed jungle Eden of Chimpanzee’s Ivory Coast accentuates the film' ideal vision of family that extends beyond species, making clear the possibilities of bonds between chimpanzees based on mutual allegiance rather than biology.