Monkey Kingdom

Today I saw the documentary Monkey Kingdom, narrated by Tina Fey.

The film traces the lives of monkey families in Sri Lanka as they navigate a year in their natural jungle habitat. The most surprising element for this viewer? The strict class system that the primates adhere to, and for which dictate where they can hunt, eat, sleep, etc.

The heroine of the story is a gentle, "blue collar" monkey named Maya. She's a peaceful, calm girl who knows her place in society... at the bottom of the barrel. She doesn't try to challenge the "white collar" sisters who rule the roost; she merely keeps to herself on the bottom branch, carrying on her affair with a visiting monkey in another part of the forest.

Their love yields baby Kip, an adorable whippersnapper who clings to his mama as he learns the ropes of lower class life in the wild. We see her do what she has to do, like so many mothers do, to keep her little one safe. And yes, the father does run off for long periods of time.

The family survives monsoon season, various vicious predators and even a monkey-napping attack from others in their community. It's scary to watch, but almost comforting to know every species has to work hard to just to exist.

A venture into the city was the highlight of the film for me: monkeys stealing cake from a human birthday party; trying to sleep through the obnoxious street parade and dangling over open-air markets to steal fruit when no one was looking.

The delightful narration by Tina Fey only enhances the scenes, which are slow-paced, but not boring.

If you're a fan of nature and want to catch a glimpse of authentic jungle life, unharmed by our modern society, you could do worse than spending time with this film.

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