Primate

Rating this horror show is a bit like asking someone to give Auschwitz a score out of a hundred as a death camp: no doubt it deserves more than I've given it but the whole thing just seems fraught. Nevertheless, there is something incredible about the fact that to a large extent it serves as a shocking critique of the notion that "basic research" is always worthwhile and requires greater support. Many viewers will find it unwatchable, and increasingly so as it progresses, so enter at own risk.

Wiseman's approach works very well here to make clear the perversity of positivism and behaviourism that drives a scientific institution. More specifically an institution of unbridled curiosity. As with all Wiseman films, he does not judge individuals but here it is hard not to conclude that humans are in many ways a cowardly species. The parallels with 'Titicut Follies' are disturbingly obvious. The film features a very rare (perhaps the only?) direct addressing of the camera in a Wiseman film.

It's hard to judge a film like this, where it contains so much of value yet is also very hard to watch for various reasons. While I appreciate Wiseman's lack of commentary, the lack of judgement can also become a lack of context and it's very hard to figure out what to make of all this when we see snippets of research methods and little broader picture. At times clinically dull and at others the pinnacle of visceral horror, it highlights both the strengths and weaknesses of Wiseman's approach

Making this movie today would probably be considered an act of terrorism. Frederick Wiseman's movies raise such deep issues; to me they're all collectively about how rotten this civilization we live in really is. Let's put a monkey in a fridge and see what fucken happens. Let's spin it around a bunch cause why the fuck not. We have evolved from monkeys to the point where we think it's a good idea to kidnap them and condemn them to a life of pointless experimentation.