Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey
| Gorillas in the Mist | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Michael Apted |
| Produced by |
Arne Glimcher Terence A. Clegg |
| Screenplay by | Anna Hamilton Phelan |
| Story by |
Anna Hamilton Phelan Tab Murphy |
| Based on | the book by Dian Fossey and the article by Harold T.P. Hayes |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Maurice Jarre |
| Cinematography | John Seale |
| Edited by | Stuart Baird |
| Distributed by |
Universal Pictures (USA/Canada) Warner Bros. Pictures (International) |
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Release date
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Running time
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129 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $22 million |
| Box office | $61.1 million |
Gorillas in the Mist is a 1988 American drama film directed by Michael Apted and starring Sigourney Weaver as naturalist Dian Fossey. It tells the true story of her work in Rwanda with mountain gorillas and was nominated for five Academy Awards.
Occupational therapist Dian Fossey (Sigourney Weaver) is inspired by the anthropologist Louis Leakey (Iain Cuthbertson) to devote her life to the study of primates. To this end, she writes ceaselessly to him for a job cataloguing and studying the rare mountain gorillas of Africa. With some effort, she manages to convince Leakey of her conviction and devotion to the cause at hand after personally approaching him following a lecture in Louisville, Kentucky, on his part in 1966. Thereafter, Fossey embarks into the Congo, where Leakey and his foundation equip her with the necessary equipment and housing to achieve personal contact with the gorillas, and introduce her to a local animal tracker, Sembagare (John Omirah Miluwi), to assist her in her endeavors. Settling deep in the jungle, Fossey and Sembagare manage to locate a troop of gorillas, but they are ultimately displaced by the events of the Congo Crisis after being forcibly evicted from their research site by Congolese soldiers, who accuse Fossey of being a foreign spy and agitator.
Initially, Fossey sees no other option but to leave the continent and return to the United States. However, after Sembagare and her temporary host Rosamond Carr (Julie Harris) motivate her to stay, she decides to base her research efforts in the jungles of neighboring Rwanda, which Dian presumes will be safe from outside incursions. However, what Fossey fails to foresee are the rampant problems of poaching and corruption taking place therein, which become apparent when she discovers several traps in the vicinity of her new base at Karisoke. Nevertheless, Fossey and her colleagues make several key headways with the gorillas, taking account of the gorilla's communication and social groups. In so doing, her work impresses Leakey and gains broader international attention.
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