Gorillas in the Mist (1988)

 Dian Foseey (Sigourney Weaver) is just desperate to meet Dr. Leakey (Iain Cuthbertson) so she can get her dream job, studying the behavior of mountain gorillas in rural Africa. While he gives her the job after just some minor consideration, she's not an anthropologist. She's a physical therapist. And then, when she gets to the Congo, there's a civil war and Dr. Leakey abandons her directly after she comes. 

There are struggles and successes, and her life is often in danger, but Dian doesn't care as she eventually takes the gorillas her family, naming and bonding with them, forgetting everything else, even her photographer lover, Bob Campbell (Bryan Brown), with his piercing blue eyes, after he left his wife for her and everything. Her main fear is the poachers, killing her beloved gorillas, which cause her to go a bit crazy in the end, though Bob had a good point. The poachers were being paid well to kill the animals so the rich Americans can have their disgusting souvenirs. 

Still, her death is upsetting and sudden, murdered in her own bed, and she's buried without her family, next to one of her beloved gorillas. 

Now, this was a solid film, and could not have been easy to film, with the gorillas (some real, some were apparently fake) to contend with and that was done with grace. It also managed to show both sides of the issue of animal poaching and Weaver delivered a brilliant performance. You did get to know the real Dian, however subtle they are. However, you know how I feel about plot holes and this film had a major one. Dian starts off the film with a fiancé, engagement ring included, but at some point, it is broken off, probably because she never leaves Africa, but it is never mentioned, which I cannot abide. Still, it is a film worth watching and Weaver fully deserved an Oscar nomination for this role. Grade: B+

-Despite living in the middle of nowhere, Dian nevertheless always has her toe nails painted and snickers candy bars handy.

-While Dian becomes a naturalist, she is also a chain-smoker, which is just disgusting and develops a wretched cough by the end of the film. 

-Her dog is never named but the gorillas are.

-The film never makes it clear how long Dian actually stays in Rwanda, where she has to build a new research center after they are forced to leave the Congo. 

-She criticizes her research students for seeing together when that's what she did with the National Geographic photographer.