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| Gorillas in the Mist | 
| Director: Michael Apted
Actors: Sigourney Weaver, Bryan Brown, Julie Harris, John Omirah Miluwi, Iain Cuthbertson
Studio: Universal Studios
Category: DVD
List Price: $9.99
Buy New: $4.28
You Save: $5.71 (57%)
New (59) Collectible (3) from $4.28
Avg. Customer Rating:  29 reviews
Sales Rank: 6434
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dvd-video, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Running Time: 130 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
DVD Layers: 2
DVD Sides: 1
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 4.9 x 0.6
MPN: 025192042126
ISBN: 0783233523
UPC: 025192042126
EAN: 9780783233529
ASIN: 0783233523
Theatrical Release Date: September 23, 1988
Release Date: April 13, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW, Factory Sealed items direct from the Studios. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. Quick International Airmail!
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| Customer Reviews:
 Wonderful acting by Sigourney Weaver August 18, 2006
Sometimes you see a movie with such great acting in it, you can never forget it. I can't imagine anyone playing Dian Fossey other than Sigourney; throughout the whole movie, you can feel her rage, her loneliness, her determination. I also think this movie did a good job in not making Dian look like an angel, because as devoted as she was, she had her flaws. Years of isolation in the remote mountains of Africa hardened her. Sometimes I think it would have been better if instead of endlessly fighting with the hunters, she had changed her approach and helped give them job oppurtunities so they had other ways to make money besides hunting. However, despite her flaws, Dian Fossey still deserves to be recognized and remembered for her selfless efforts to protect gorillas. This movie does just that.
 Murder in the Mist Solved? July 11, 2006
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
After more than 15 years, the mastermind behind the gruesome and infamous murder of renowned gorilla researcher and protector, Dr. Dian Fossey whose life was portrayed in the 1988 movie "Gorillas in the Mist," may finally be in custody in Belgium. Protais Zigiranyirazo, the former Governor of the Ruhengeri province in Rwanda, brother-in-law of the assassinated Rwandan president, and one of the country's most wanted criminals for his creation of "death squads," which killed 800,000 in 1994, was captured by Belgian police while trying to flee Kenya on June 9, 2001.
Dr. Fossey observed the gorillas for 18 years in the Ruhengeri province when she was brutally murdered in her hut on December 27, 1985. Known for her vigilant pursuit of poachers, Dr. Fossey had made many enemies including Zigiranyirazo, who, it was reported, she was about to announce publicly as being behind poaching and smuggling rings of endangered species and gold in and out of Rwanda. Soon after her murder, Rwandan officials arrested one of her trackers for the murder. He then "apparently" committed suicide while in prison, but diplomats in Kigali believe he was secretly hanged before he could talk. Several months later, Wayne McGuire, her American research assistant, was accused by the Government of her murder but escaped capture when the US embassy warned him, enabling him to leave the country.
For years the FBI was unable to approach its prime suspect, Zigiranyirazo, because of his political connections, but that all changed when he was arrested in Belgium for war crimes.
The saga of Dian Fossey's murder may soon be resolved, but her work for the gorillas she fought so hard to preserve still goes on. The following story, reprinted from the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, is of Beetsme, one of the original gorillas observed by Dr. Fossey over 25 years ago.
Wonderful,Dedicating Movie!!!!! February 23, 2006
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Although I'm labeled "horror buff", I just had to write a review of this film depicting the life of famed Dr. Dian Fossey. Heads up to Warner Brothers for giving us a glimpse into the world of a woman who ultimately gave her life to save and protect the few mountain gorillas remaining in Africa. Dian devoted 18 years of her life to researching and understanding these wonderful primates. This film shows Dian's vunerable side along with her determined side to do what ever it took to save the gorillas who are supposed to be protected by the parks. Sigourney Weaver shines in her role and was the perfect choice for this movie. She approached it with reckless abandon. Although Dian lost her life trying to save the remaining gorillas, we get to see how one person was responsible for doing so much for the gorillas. With heartwarming scenes with her and her beloved Digit, to heartbreaking scenes like when she had to turn over Pucker, the infant gorilla she nursed back to health, to a zoo and the horrible death of Digit, this movie captivates you from beginning to end. For anyone who is interested in the few remaining mountain gorillas, this movie will really open your eyes and make you route for Dian. Although with a tragic ending with Dian's death and burial next to Digit, it's a true love story not only between her and Bob Campbell, but between her and the gorillas she loved so much. I wish I could give this movie more than 5 stars!! Definetly a movie to own and to cherish... for her memory will never be forgotten as her work carries on thru The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International to this day.
 Idealized portrait of a flawed woman November 14, 2005
6 out of 13 found this review helpful
This was a phenomenal movie, no question about that. Sigorney Weaver did a bang up job as Dian Fossey and showed us a lush landscape of Africa. We were also introduced to the Fossey cause of preserving the endangered mountain gorilla and wildlife, as well as the problems with poaching. What we were not shown in true light was the real woman Dian Fossey was, and had they not glossed over certain things and made this movie Hollywood she might not have been so appealing to the general public.
Dian Fossey, as was portrayed as the movie unfolded, was a physical therapist from California who became fascinated with the continent of Africa and the gorillas of Rwanda. Having little to no training in anthropology and animal behavior but getting the ok from a prominent anthropologist, Dr. Leaky, Dian Fossey embarked on what would become her life's work: to study and care for the gorilla.
Dian loved being in Africa and enjoyed her work with the gorillas, there is no doubt about that, but had the general public read about other aspects of her residence there they would not have found her very appealing. As time went on she became more and more paranoid and vicious. The lifestyle of living on a secuded mountaintop surrounded with your only companions being upper primates other than humans does not make for the most socially well adjusted person. Although the relationship she had in the movie was otherwise happy, Dian had many affairs with married men (and even with Dr. Leaky himself) which would leave her devistated and rejected. She had affairs with research fellows, tourists, cameramen, and just about anyone who came to her camp. As the affairs would end, she would become more bitter, but because she was lonely she would start others again with the next unavailable. It was a vicious cycle. She also was very hung up on a research assistant who was half her age, then once he took up with another woman she filled her journals with jealous entries
Dian began to see the territory as hers, and it certainly wasn't as she was a guest in their country. Many were driven away, others quit on her because they couldn't stand being around her temper tantrums and irrational behavior. A research fellowship couple by name of Webster later wrote an account of Dian not actually spending as much time with the gorilla troups as she implied because she was passed out drunk most of the time. She shunned the government officials who tried to open the area more towards tourism and created many enemies within the higher ups. Poaching had always been a problem, and when her beloved Digit was killed by the poachers I'm sure that devistated her. She was naturally vicious towards poachers, but had also taken it upon herself to take out vigalante justice on them, which was not her official decission to make. She was petty, selfish and tyranical who had high standards that even she did not live up to.
Dian Fossey could have been killed by any number of people, recent theories have now pointed to a connection between her murder and the Rwandan ethnic cleansing from 1994. Who knows? If she were alive today, she would probably say she was the best and the worst thing ever to happen to the species. But she was far from a martyr for these creatures.
My Son's Dream October 15, 2005
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
I purchased this dvd for my very passionate son's 11th birthday. When he opened it his eyes filled with tears. He has loved gorillas, chimps, and all primates since he was very young. I watched the movie before and was a little concerned about his reaction to Digit's murder. It was as I expected, he cried in my arms. His dream is to grow up and move to Africa to help in the survival of this extraordinary species. The movie was given to him for encouragment from Ms. Fossey with all her beliefs and struggles. We as the human race have a responsibility for all species on Earth. This movie will open your eyes and make you realize how vain and selfish humans can be and it also shows that one person can make a difference and is still making a difference years after her death.
What strikes me about Mrs. Weaver is that she was also touched by Fossey's accomplishments and she is an honorary chair person for the Dian Fossey Gorilla International Fund.
Dian Fossey wrote this passage in her journal, "When you realize the value of all life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate on the preservation of the future."
I hope this review helps you decide whether to buy the movie or not and brings at least one more person to acknowledge we must all do our part.
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