This isn’t Jane. That beautifully composed biopic, which National Geographic released in 2017, told of the early years of Jane Goodall’s story largely through restored footage of her expeditions. It was an engaging and absorbing account of how someone with with no scientific experience ended up in Africa studying chimpanzees and, as a consequence, challenged conventional wisdom about what made us, as humans, exceptional.
Jane Goodall: The Hope, a follow-up of sorts, comes across as something far more pedestrian. Where Jane had a clear directorial vision in the hands of Brett Morgen (he was, after all, responsible for both Chicago 10 and The Kid Stays in the Picture), The Hope feels like it was put together by committee. Where that movie felt immediate, involving, and important, this one feels like more of a sort of catch-all catch-up that merely paints a picture of what her life is like today as she travels the world as an advocate for conservation.
There is a laziness in its construction which makes The Hope look and feel like a hastily cobbled together television special. But while it may not be particularly stunning or revolutionary as a documentary film, it is nevertheless still an important watch.
Hear me out.
Jane Goodall is a great many things. Writer. Scientist. Advocate. Activist. Anthropologist. Primatologist. The one word that isn’t used enough to describe her, however, is “pragmatist”. Always focussed on the big picture, she isn’t someone who sweats the small stuff.
My favourite story of Jane Goodall not sweating the small stuff has to do with Gary Larson and The Far Side. Back in 1987, Larson published a cartoon which depicted two chimpanzees grooming when one finds a human hair on the other and inquires: “Well, well – another blonde hair… Conducting a little more ‘research’ with that Jane Goodall tramp?”
Shortly after the cartoon ran, Larson’s syndicate received a letter from the Jane Goodall Institute calling the cartoon an “atrocity”. “To refer to Dr. Goodall as a tramp is inexcusable – even by a self-described ‘loony’ such as Larson,” their letter read. The controversy, however, was stymied rather quickly by Goodall herself who, upon seeing the cartoon when she returned from Africa, said that she found it amusing. She even went on to write a preface to one of Larson’s Far Side collections.
If there’s one point that Jane Goodall: The Hope drives home, it is her unflinching pragmatism. She knows how to get things done. She is well aware of how the world works. She understands politics and knows that the only way to affect change is to talk to, and work with, everyone. Be it an oil and gas company in the Congo. Or with laboratories that practice animal testing.
If you don’t talk to people, how can you ever expect them to change.
Jane Goodall
In this one line lies the most important takeaway from Jane Goodall: The Hope. We live in a time of extreme dogmatism. We’re either with someone or against them. We shout down those who disagree with us. We’re constantly engaging in epistemic violence. We’ve forgotten how to engage. We spend all of our time screaming into the wind and passing it off as discourse. It’s gotten us nowhere.
Which is why watching this documentary was such an important lesson. A reminder that the reason Jane Goodall is so successful at what she does is because of how hard she works to find common ground. And how she uses that shared experience to win people over and eventually get her way. From oil executives to secretaries of state, she has no natural enemies in the wild, just powerful individuals who will go out of their way to not disappoint her.
It is genius. And so is she.
Jane Goodall’s story is a fascinating one. Her journey – from a young girl who just wanted to go to Africa, live with wild animals, and write books about them, to beloved global icon – is a testament to both her brains and her charm. Hers is a quiet inspiration. One that is rooted in knowledge and experience. One that belies her tremendous intellect. She is a scientist on par with Hawking, and Thorne, and Leakey, though hardly ever spoken about in the same breath. Which, in itself, is a glaring oversight on the part of the world.
It’s strange watching a documentary about saving the world when we have no idea what the world will be like after all of this is over. It is truly ironic that we are forced to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the environmental movement, sheltered in place, during one of the most widespread and deadly pandemics the world has seen for generations. But as we sit here in our homes, unsure of when this global quarantine will end, there is comfort in watching the story of a tireless woman hell-bent on making this tired planet of ours a better place.
We might even learn something.
Jane Goodall: The Hope
National Geographic
90 minutes
Directors: Kim Woodard and Elizabeth Leiter
Cast: Jane Goodall, James Baker, Richard Wrangham, Francis Collins, Robert Gallo, and Prince Harry.
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