4 minute read
NOw pLAyINg
from May 2012
by Le Journal
Now Playing: Chimpanzee
A Movie to Get People Motivated to Help End Extinction of Chimpanzees
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Your home is invaded by strangers. They destroy your room and eat all of your favorite foods. Their invasion sepaBY TAYLoR ESCHER Managing Editor rates you from your parents and the next day you can’t find them anywhere. Eventually you learn that they were killed by another enemy, an even fiercer one. This is the story of Oscar, a chimp who lives in the African rainforest. He is a part of another chimp, Freddy’s clan. Chimpanzee tells the tale of Oscar from soon after his birth. He is being cared for by his mother and she teaches him all of the ways of the forest. She shows him what to eat, how to get to the food, and how to make his canopy in the trees when he wants to sleep. Oscar is a rambunctious chimp who spends his days following around his mother and making trouble. However, all is not fun and games
in Oscar’s world. Soon another pack of chimps invades to steal their food and Oscar’s mother, Isha, is killed by a jaguar. Life seems hopeless for Oscar after such a traumatic turn of events, but someone comes to his rescue. A very unexpected someone. This movie shows the true story of the lives of chimps all throughout
Africa. It shows the struggles they go through daily to find food and shelter and the dangers lurking behind every corner. The chimps are threatened by changing climates, rival chimps, lack of food and habitation, and human poachers. This movie shows all of
The baby chimp, Oscar, stars in Chimpanzee as the newest member of Freddy’s, the head chimpanzee, clan. He loses his mother and has to fend for his life with the help of his fellow chimps. (Photo from MCT Campus)
the chimps’ human-like characteristics and makes them seem extremely similar to us. Chimpanzee also gives a beautiful look into the rainforest. You see the ants foraging and the plants growing over months in a matter of seconds. The greenery is incredible and the filming seems unreal because it is so up close and personal. The movie is narrated by Tim Allen and goofy jokes and silly dialogue discussing the chimps’ inner thoughts keeps the audience smiling and laughing throughout the whole film. Although there are quite a few cheesy lines and more than a little repetition, in general this movie is a great documentary. Chimpanzee is the fourth of the Disney nature films in the series, including Earth, Oceans, and African Cats. In 1960, there were over one million chimps in the rainforest. Now, there are fewer than 200,000. A fifth of the amount. Chimpanzee isn’t just a feel good movie, but it’s meant to get people acquainted with these animals and get them motivated to help these mammals who are so similar to humans.
Archrifice
Student Play Shows Life Is Ultimate Gift
BY MEg CoWAn Reporter
Imagine carrying out your daily school assignments and extra curricular activities while managing a task of writing and directing a school play. Junior Marina Dennis accomplished this. She wrote a full play, casted characters and directed without ever getting lost in the loads of assignments she had aside from the play.
Art teacher Penny Selle found Dennis’ ambition to be fantastic, especially for a junior.
“She did fantastic, I loved the costumes, make up and sets,” Selle said. “She did a tremendous job, particularly for a junior.”
Dennis, also agreed that although the stress of school was challenging, she always had to remain interested for her actors.
“If I’m not there mentally, I can’t expect them [the actors] to be,” Dennis said. “I have to be there mentally, or they won’t be.”
Before Archrifice, other girls have written and directed single act plays. However, Dennis was the first student in Sion’s history to write and lead a full-casted play. All of Dennis’ hard work paid off during the final production, which, in junior Kathryn Surmier’s eyes, was a success.
“Everything fell into place, with a lot of hard work of course,” Surmier said. “It all worked out in the end.”
Surmier portrayed the queen in the play. Her character ruled a society where iron is leaking into the world. In order to stop the leak, the queen sent her friend to find a human sacrifice. After making the journey, the friend falls in love with the human sacrifice. The friend then chose to commit suicide in an attempt to save her lover.
“The play is about finding your ultimate gift, which is why I chose the title Archrifice,” Dennis said. “Sacrifice breaks down into two words meaning sacred gift. Archrifice means ultimate gift. The ultimate gift is life.”
