While it might not sound like it, Dinosaur 13 plays like a thriller.
When one goes to a museum there may be a tendency to overlook how the artifacts ended up there. After watching Dinosaur 13, a 2014 documentary, I will likely find myself wondering quite a bit more about how those items on display made it there.
In 1990, a group of paleontologists literally stumbled across the fossilized remains of a dinosaur in South Dakota. Although they didn’t know it at the time, the fossil, nicknamed “Sue,” was the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex ever found. After spending two years carefully preparing the fossil for display in their museum, the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research found themselves being accused of stealing the specimen from federal land. Federal agents and the National Guard arrived and removed the dinosaur from their warehouse.
Dinosaur 13 chronicles the lengthy and convoluted legal battle to determine to whom Sue rightfully belonged. Using interviews from the paleontologists, their lawyers, members of various government agencies, and journalists covering the story, director Todd Douglas Miller fills in the details. We also see the emotional toll on those who’d labored to excavate Sue from the ground only to lose her to bureaucracy. Sue’s plight captured plenty of national attention from the news media in the early 1990s and the resulting footage makes up a large part of the film.
While it might not sound like it, Dinosaur 13 plays like a thriller. From the extraction of Sue’s remains on Maurice Williams’ land to her eventual final resting place, there are twists and turns and even a bit of tragedy and hope. This is not just the story of a collection of bones but a document of the impact this ordeal had on Peter and Neal Larson and the rest of the paleontologists and volunteers at the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research. For a science nerd like me, this is gripping stuff. But it’s not just for science nerds. Miller makes sure that anyone can understand what’s going on and still be interested on a personal level.
Seeing the citizens of Hill City, South Dakota, especially the children, protest Sue’s removal from their town shows how dinosaurs can intrigue and captivate people of all ages. Dinosaur 13 is well-worth watching for anyone who wants to learn about the unusual journey of one of the biggest dinosaurs ever found as well as the people that found her.
4.0 out of 5.0 stars
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