Film
Jane
Brett Morgen's *Jane* is a visually rapturous portrait of the primatologist who transformed our understanding of chimpanzees and ourselves. Built from decades of unseen National Geographic footage, it's less a conventional biography than an immersion in Goodall's wonder—her restlessness, her courage, her romantic entanglement with the African wilderness. Intimate and urgent.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you love patient, observational documentaries that let archive footage carry the story, and you want to watch wild chimpanzees behave like characters rather than animals on display.
Skip it if you want a conventional biography with outside experts, dates and context, since this mostly trusts old film to do the talking.
What it asks of you: It runs about ninety minutes at an unhurried, watchful pace, asking you to settle into long stretches of forest life and let small moments accumulate.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
My Octopus Teacher2020
A filmmaker develops a profound connection with a wild creature, documenting their relationship across a year. Like *Jane*, it's a meditation on wonder, vulnerability, and what we learn when we truly pay attention to another mind.
But The pace is meditative and slow. If you need narrative momentum or conflict, this might feel too gentle and repetitive.
Blackfish2013
A searing documentary about orcas in captivity that reshapes how you think about animal intelligence and consent. It shares *Jane*'s power to make you reconsider humanity's relationship with nature—but darker, more accusatory.
But It's an angry film. If you prefer ambiguity or prefer not to feel implicated in systems of harm, it will make you uncomfortable.
The Cave2019
A documentary about the Syrian doctors and volunteers who operated a underground hospital during the war. Like *Jane*, it's ultimately about witnessing—about the human impulse to document and understand even in impossible circumstances.
But The subject matter is harrowing. Watching people do heroic work in devastating conditions can feel overwhelming rather than uplifting.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Jane
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
The Biggest Little Farm2019
Where *Jane* is about learning to read nature through observation, *The Biggest Little Farm* is about learning to listen to nature through cooperation. Both reject human dominance in favor of attentiveness, but one observes and one participates. Both are filmed with equal tenderness.
A husband-and-wife team document eight years of building a sustainable farm from barren land. It's structured like a nature documentary but is really about human vision and patience—about creating harmony rather than extracting knowledge. Quietly miraculous.
But Some find it too earnest and aestheticized. The implicit politics of pastoral back-to-the-land mythology are uncomplicated and possibly naive.
More like this (6)
Becoming Jane2007
A dramatized biography of Jane Austen that explores the woman behind the novels. Both films grapple with how a woman's inner life can be excavated from fragments and archives, and both celebrate intellectual hunger.
But This one sentimentalizes and invents far more than the documentary approach. If you prefer fact to drama, it might frustrate you.
Our Planet2019
A David Attenborough series that uses stunning cinematography to explore ecosystems and species. It shares *Jane*'s reverence for the natural world and its capacity to make you see animals as fully realized beings with agency and desire.
But The conservation message can feel preachy. Some scenes of predation and animal suffering are difficult to watch.
Life2007
Another Attenborough series, this one focused on survival strategies across species. The observational intensity and patient attention to animal behavior echo *Jane*'s commitment to watching and understanding rather than judging.
But It's essentially nature facts set to visuals. If you want human narrative or emotional stakes, you won't find much here.
Grizzly Man2005
Werner Herzog's documentary about Timothy Treadwell, a man who lived among grizzlies. Like *Jane*, it's about a person's obsessive communion with wild animals, but Herzog interrogates the romance rather than simply celebrating it.
But It ends in death and tragedy. Herzog's philosophical pessimism can feel bleak, and the footage of a fatal bear attack is present, though not graphic.
The Elephant Man1980
A tender documentary following an elephant herd on their migration across the African landscape. It captures the same sense of witnessing something profound and unknowable, with minimal narration and maximum intimacy.
But There's almost no plot. If you need stakes or resolution, you'll find it frustrating and slow.
Virunga2014
A documentary about mountain gorillas and the rangers protecting them in a Congolese national park. It echoes *Jane*'s central concern—the fragile bond between humans and wild animals, and what we owe to them.
But The political corruption and violence elements are heavy-handed. The narrative sometimes feels like a thriller rather than genuine documentary inquiry.
People
Cast
Jane GoodallSelf
Hugo van LawickSelf (archive footage)
Hugo Eric Louis van LawickSelf (archive footage)
Directing
- Brett MorgenDirector
Writing
- Jane GoodallOther
- Brett MorgenWriter
Production
- Debra EisenstadtCo-Executive Producer
- Tim PastoreExecutive Producer
- Brett MorgenProducer
- Bryan BurkProducer
- James A. SmithProducer
- Tony GerberProducer
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