"Chimp Empire" Is Basically Game Of Thrones In The Jungle And It's The Most Mind Bottling Documentary I've Ever Seen

Ok we gotta talk about this show "Chimp Empire" real quick. (No spoilers in this blog). It's consumed my mind for the last 2 days and I need everyone to watch it because it is one of the most fascinating documentaries I have ever seen. If you haven't heard of it, here's brief synopsis:

Netflix - Reed, his crew and a squad of on-the-ground  scientists and field trackers spent over a year shooting the Ngogo chimps in Uganda’s Kibale National Park. The Ngogo community is the largest known group of chimpanzees in the world, and at the time of filming, it had splintered into two competing factions. The filmmakers were present on the front lines for the life-or-death fight for supremacy between the Central and Western groups. Chimp Empire is a nature documentary that feels more like a historical conquest epic or a cutthroat boardroom thriller.

When I started watching Chimp Empire two days ago, I had no idea what I was getting into. I was 3chi'd to the tits and wanted to watch a nature show, as one does when they are high. What I didn't expect was to watch a Game Of Thrones type of story unfold involving chimpanzees in Uganda. You might be wondering how that is possible, and believe me brother, I'm still wondering it too. When I say it's fascinating, mind bottling, and a complete brain fuck while being one of the best and most captivating docs I've ever seen, I ain't lying. 

Basically, as that synopsis above says, the filmmakers follow two rival chimp gangs in the jungle. There are inner-gang politics, age and gender dynamics, outsiders, alphas, and yes, even bastard children. The two chimp gangs hate each other and are constantly at war over territory. Now remember, this is a documentary- so like, the filmmakers have to piece together this story and figure out who is who within each chimp gang. Again, I can't comprehend how they figured this shit out, but it's incredible. You kinda forget you are watching animals in their natural environment and not a scripted TV show.

From the trailer: 

I just need you guys, not tonight because obviously the draft is on and we love sports, but this weekend I need you to flip on Chimp Empire. It's fairly quick, something like 4, 45 minute parts. The fact that this stuff happens out there in the jungle is so incredible to me. It's similar to every time I watch Planet Earth or one of those shows how I'm always stunned how incredibly intricate and deep and layered nature and the world truly is. You know what I mean? Like, nothing is base level. Everything has an entire world around it, and everything is so connected and reliant on each other. It's all madness and beautiful at the same time.

Also, this is my 3rd Netflix blog in 2 days. I wrote about Mulaney's new standup and the new season of Black Mirror yesterday. Is Netflix BACK? For a while it was getting absolutely shit on by all the other streaming platforms across the board. HBO Max was putting Netflix in a dumpster ever single week. But maybe Netflix is back now? Their original movies mostly are still F-, but maybe they are digging themselves back up. 

So anyway, give it a watch. There's a spoiler I want to talk about, but I'm a man of the people so I won't. But you'll know it when you see it. The end of ep 1. I shed a tear for my boy.