Instinct

Instinct

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• Anthony Hopkins plays a psychiatrist studying apes in Africa, when he disappears for two years. Soon after he is accused of murder and sent back to the States where he is placed in a mental institution. Cuba Gooding, Jr plays a psychologist assigned to his case. System Requirements: Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Cuba Gooding Jr., John Ashton, George Dzundza, Donald Sutherland, and Maura Tierney.

Movie Reviews of Instinct

Movie Review: Superb Film About Nature Of Humankind!
Summary: 5 Stars

The format of the movie is such that it is necessary to piece together this message, and this is the service that Cuba Gooding provides here as the bearer of logic and modern thought, presuming to examine Hopkins character for mental defect due to the extreme nature of Hopkins outside the mental hospital he is now ensconced in. Yet the evolving dialogue and plot as it slowly builds is really the uncovering of the ways in which such arrogance and presumptive claims for natural stewardship over the natural order are laid bare for what they are, groundless and silly.

Of course, the fact that such ideas are expressed in a movie made for popular consumption is rare enough, but to do so with a message that is clearly enunciated and not overlaid with the weight of its own dramatic detritus is very powerful indeed. The director is clearly warning us that our misuse and rape of the environment has terrible consequences, but unfortunately not just for us or for humankind, but rather for the whole ecological superstructure on which life on this planet depends. The idea that we are false "Gods' and false prophets is made chillingly clear by some of Hopkins monologues.

The plot is unusual but not all that plausible; it is unlikely anyone who found his way back to nature would return under any circumstances. Indeed, one of the more profound undercurrents of the classic Edgar Rice Burroughs series of Tarzan novels was the way in which he (Burroughs) constantly counter-posed the rather Victorian idea of the superiority and infallibility of Human progress and civilization on the one hand with the predictably calamitous results of that civilization on the other. Hopkins does much the same thing here, but with much more articulate and even profound use of language and story. This is a very interesting and worthwhile movie, and one I highly recommend. Enjoy!

Summary of Instinct