Jane

Veteran primatologist Jane Goodall has appeared in dozens of documentaries to publicise her wildlife causes. But Brett Morgen’s profile offers a unique insight into her early life with a combination of Goodall’s reflective voiceover and previously unseen home movies.

There’s something of a “girls’ own adventure” about the way in which, six decades ago, the London-born secretary was hired by famed archaeologist Louis Leakey to study wild chimpanzees in Gombe, Tanzania. Goodall quickly became a shrewd observer and her relationship with an adult male nicknamed David Greybeard transformed our understanding of simian behaviour.

Filmed by future husband Hugo van Lawick, there are poignant clips of Goodall interacting with the apes, and she brings the same sure sense of perspective to her marriage and her relationship with her son.

The narrow focus leaves questions unanswered but, with its atmospheric Philip Glass score, this is an invaluable, spellbinding film.