Oscar is a baby chimpanzee who lives with his mother, who raises him lovingly in a rainforest. Within the clan, he learns the rules of life, but also basic needs. The group of monkeys ventures a little further into the forest, until they reach the lands of a rival clan. These intrusions do not please the inhabitants of the place, and soon a fratricidal war breaks out. During this conflict, which is always violent, Oscar’s mother is reported missing. Now alone, he will soon be condemned if he doesn’t find another adoptive family because the leopards won’t give him any gifts.
Oscar, a Disney star
What you have just read is the synopsis of the documentary film “Chimpanzees” directed by Mark Linfield and Alastair Fothergill in 2012 and produced by Disneynature. This story is very well known to American girls and Oscar is a big star who made headlines in 2013. The world premiere of this film was shown with great pomp and circumstance at the AMC downtown Disney which is a mythical shopping area of Walt Disney World Resort. Nature-loving Westerners were looking forward to this film. As for AMC Theatres, it is one of the largest movie theatre chains in the United States. These theatres often dominate the list of the 50 most profitable theatres in North America. It is also the only one of North America’s 12 major movie theatre chains that did not go bankrupt during the recession in the industry between 2001 and 2002.
Needless to say, if a film is shown in a world premiere by this structure, and in this mythical theatre, it is because Disney takes its project and the subject being shown very seriously. And do you know where this documentary film was shot and with which actors? Yes, in Ivory Coast! Too bad that in the synopsis the mention Ivory Coast is totally absent. It is the forest of Taï and its intelligent chimpanzees, the only ones known in the world to use instruments as if they were human beings, who are the actors.
Oscar benefactor of the Taï forest
In this film, the famous phrase from the “Book of the Jungle”: “It doesn’t take much to be happy” is quoted, and the enemy of the chimpanzees is named Scar, an emblematic character of the Lion King, but here it is a terrible leopard.
Yes, yes, you read correctly, intelligent chimpanzees that have been intriguing scientists around the world since the 1920s, and leopards (Panthera pardus) several filmed in this forest, who play cat and mouse with these chimpanzees. All this is happening in Ivory Coast, and Disney has made millions of dollars with this highly successful documentary, and the good news is that part of it has been used to date to fund several foundations for the preservation of this forest. The Taï National Park in the west of the Ivory Coast is one of the few remaining primary forests in the world. Visit your country!
