Chimp Empire Season 1 Review – gorgeous cinematography with an deep emotional story

April 19, 2023 (Last updated: last month)
Amanda Guarragi 3
Netflix, Streaming Service, TV Reviews
Previous EpisodeView all
3

Summary

An in-depth social analysis of the chimpanzees in the forest of Uganda and their communities.


We review the 2023 Netflix documentary series Chimp Empire Season 1, which was released on April 19, 2023.

In this tv mini-series, Mahershala Ali narrates the lives of chimps in the wild. Out of all the animals in our world, humans and chimps have the same intellectual thread.

They live like humans with their own language. Over years, humans have learned that chimps can understand humans on the same level as other humans. In a way, it’s almost like a thin line that separates the species.

Chimp Empire Season 1 Review

In Uganda, a vast community of chimpanzees live in a forest. They navigate social politics, family dynamics, and dangerous territory disputes.

These four episodes explore the intellect within the community of chimpanzees. They have the systems that work for them and their power structures that work within different groupings.

Is Chimp Empire Season 1 good or bad?

Apart from the simple observation of their habitat and community, to see these primates in the wild is something to see. The reason why it is good is that it has some beautiful cinematography, and the direction of each episode allows audiences to be placed in the forest with them.

It takes you into their world, fully immersing you while learning about their lives. Even Mahershala Ali’s narration makes this engaging, and so does the score.

There’s only so much you can do when filming the chimpanzees, and a lot of work went into making this compelling in post-production.

READ: Best Netflix Documentary Series of All Time

It’s not a nature documentary, but it has more of a story. It goes deeper than explaining facts. Ali builds an emotional connection with the stories within the community of the chimpanzees to make others understand how they live.

Is Chimp Empire Season 1 worth watching?

All in all, Chimp Empire is worth watching because of what they decide to explore in the four episodes. It’s fascinating to see how they build their community, move from territories, and settle their differences.

It’s definitely odd to talk about a community of chimpanzees as having political dynamics and social interactions with other families, but it makes so much sense. We see how animals operate within the animal kingdom, and it’s how humans also interact.

It always comes down to respect and loyalty to your community, and that’s exactly what is shown here. It’s important to see that each chimp has a story, and Ali explores who they are as they interact with other community members.

Some were born close to each other, and other chimps have been on opposing sides of the community for a while. As humans, we have been socially conditioned since the day we were born, and it is a significant connection that humans have with chimpanzees.

We never think about other species because we rarely interact with them, but when a docu-series such as this one comes out, it’s important to understand that many species in the world go through the same thing.

What did you think of the Netflix documentary series Chimp Empire Season 1? Comment below.

More Stories

Find where to watch this and more with our Discovery Tool

Explore Now
Previous EpisodeView all

3 thoughts on “Chimp Empire Season 1 Review – gorgeous cinematography with an deep emotional story

  • April 21, 2023 at 10:42 am
    Permalink

    3 out of 5? Are you kididng? Was this article A.I. generated?

  • April 22, 2023 at 9:42 am
    Permalink

    5 stars on visuals. 1 star on Narration. 3 stars is very fair.

  • April 30, 2023 at 6:19 pm
    Permalink

    I had to laugh when the narrator stated that unlike humans, chimps are territorial and protective over their resources. Also that they tend to stay within their own groups and are wary of “others.” They are JUST LIKE HUMANS!!! We are them and they are us! We just have more technologically advanced ways to guard our territories, protect our resources, and keep to ourselves.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.