UK Premiere / Documentary – International

Showing @ Filmhouse 1, Thu 16 June @ 19:40 & Filmhouse 2, Sun 19 June @ 21:00

Lorenz Knauer / Germany / 2010 / 107 min / English

Jane Goodall carries a toy monkey with her everywhere she goes; a talisman of hope that she wants to spread around the world. As children flock after her and her coveted monkey, scenes akin to those with the Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang spring to mind, with echoes of the Pied Piper just to twist the knife of suspicion.

But Goodall is the complete polar opposite of these baddie child-enticers. A truly remarkable woman, she has not only done incredible things for animal and environmental conservation, but also to help communities develop social cohesion and sustainable financial opportunities in poor and struggling areas across the world. Amongst other ventures, her Roots & Shoots programme targets the world’s children to make them aware of the delicate and deteriorating state of the earth, encouraging them to preserve and correct what older generations have failed to. Not bad for someone who is so demure, softly spoken and self-confessedly shy despite having met and spoken to over 3.5 million people.

Starting with her work observing chimpanzees in Tanzania’s Gombe Stream National Park before moving onto the activism that has been her mission for the last 25 years, the film meanders somewhat without a comfortable narrative, which all feels a bit twee. As the name suggests, Jane’s Journey is a biographical documentary, but its lack of substance in dealing with the serious issues of mankind’s abuse of the planet is left desperately wanting. Whilst this is an excellent film in terms of raising awareness, some issues are briefly explored and others not at all; Goodall rightly points out how dreadful it is that the ice caps are melting, but doesn’t seem to offer any solution other than ‘hope’. Like Goodall’s annoying habit of lifting her voice at the end of nearly every statement as if it’s a question, the overuse of ‘hope’ as the solution to all of the world’s problems becomes irritating as the film progresses, as it does nothing to offer concrete solutions – or at least proposed solutions – to global issues.

Despite the striking landscapes and touching footage of chimpanzees mischievously playing with Goodall’s team, there’s a disappointing apathy upon leaving the screening; rather than feeling a desperate urge to go out and save the world, one instead feels a sense of awe at the achievements of someone whose fame is relatively obscure. And after a selfless lifetime dedicated to people, animals and the environment, it is hard to believe that this is really what Goodall would want.