What to Watch: Famous Last Words reveals Jane Goodall's final message
Dr Jane Goodall's final words are shared in this interview on Netflix, filmed a few months before her death.
The last two weeks were tough for ageing icons. Fate aimed its arrows fairly: literature (Jilly Cooper), film (Diane Keaton) and environmentalist (Jane Goodall).
And when Goodall raised her glass of whisky in her interview with Brad Falchuk on Famous Last Words (it soothed her throat and made it much easier for the 91-year-old to talk) she couldn’t have known she was saluting three such fabulous women.
Her interview on Famous Last Words with Brad Falchuk was made to be shown after her death.
Famous Last Words – an inspired title, originally a Danish idea – is a series of interviews with people who are old enough not to be too bothered that it’s assumed they’re going to die in the near rather than distant future.
This interview was filmed last March on a stage containing just Goodall and Falchuk. There’s no audience and even the cameras are remotely controlled.
Falchuk asks her about her private life - two marriages. Anyone else special? Yes, she says they had such a lot in common, but he was married, so it wasn't to be.
Goodall is asked if there's anything she could have done, what would it be. If she could, she says, she would send one of Musk’s rockets on a one-way trip, and in it, along with Musk, would be Trump, Xi, Putin and Netanyahu.
At the end Goodall is left alone on the stage to talk directly to us.
While acknowledging that the earth was in a very dark place, she entreated us to not give up, that all of us doing one small thing would add up to a big thing.
Beautiful on the outside and inside is a cliché, but it fits her perfectly. Calm, compassionate and utterly courageous, at 91 she was still working: she died in her sleep while on a speaking tour.
It’s on Netflix, and there could be no better way to spend an hour than watching this. She was spiritual, rather than religious, believing there was something greater than us. One would hope so.
If you like Famous Last Words, what should you watch next?
Ocean:David Attenborough - another legendary environmental warrior looks at the plight of the oceans and offers a glimpse of hope. (Disney+)
Kiss the Ground:Narrated and featuring Woody Harrelson, this doco looks at how regenerative farming techniques enrich the soil on which we all depend. (Prime Video)
Graham Norton: For interviews of another sort, good old Graham Norton is back for - ye gods - his 33rd season. (TVNZ+)
