Grizzly Man

Lion's Gate Releasing Presents
Grizzly Man

"In nature, there are boundaries."

2005 Documentary

Reviewed 2.1.2006

Written and Directed by Werner Herzog

Written by Edgar Allan Poe

Starring Timothy Treadwell, Amie Huguenard, Warren Queeney, William Fulton, and Jewel Palovak

Rated R for language

Fun Fact: Werner Herzog had the audio tape that records the last moments of Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard as they're killed by grizzly bears. Out of respect for the late couple, Herzog declined to feature it in the film although there is a scene with Herzog listening to the footage with a distraught facial expression.
 

If Grizzly Man teaches us anything it's that there is a fine line between fascination and obsession and it was a line that Timothy Treadwell crossed with fatal consequences.

This incredibly fascinating documentary details the life, passions, and death of Treadwell, a tireless environmentalist and wildlife enthusiast who lived in the Alaska wilderness for 13 summers with wild grizzly bears.  The movie is almost entirely made up of Treadwell's own footage. 

Treadwell was phobic of civilization, distrusted the park service to protect the bears, and as the movie points out several times, probably deep down wanted to physically be a bear himself.  Treadwell got close to these animals... closer than the professionals care to get and it was this obsession that caused him to do damage to the very animals he wanted to protect and cost not only his life, but the life of his girlfriend as well.

A misconception I had as I watched this movie was that it was going to be a nature documentary.  Not true, this is the story of Treadwell and his desires and inner demons.  It's pretty obvious that Treadwell is not quite right as the movie progresses as a dead bee brings him to tears and touching a bear's poop seems to be a spiritual experience for him.  His actions are suspect too and, if anything, proves that he wasn't a professional or even that knowledgeable about bears and the damage he was doing by making them used to humans.

In short, the guy was a nutjob.  I try not to disrespect the dead like this, but Treadwell was skating on thin ice and seemed to be doing everything he could to shove himself down a bear's digestive tract.

Still, this look into his life and his state of mind is fascinating and disturbing at the same time.  Almost as if you came across his body in the Alaska wilderness and started going through his things to learn more about him yourself.  There are moments in Grizzly Man that are beautiful and majestic as they show a man deeply in love with nature and then shifts to scenes that are haunting and quietly chilling as we learn that his love comes with no respect for what nature can do to you or those around you.  Grizzly Man at it's most unsettling is when we see Treadwell claim that he would die for his bears over and over again and knowing that he got his wish gives you goosebumps.

Treadwell, despite being off his rocker, is a fascinating character in of himself.  His unhinged love of nature and his methodical use of several takes while on camera and his phobia and subsequent madness are - and I hate to use the word - entertaining, but all the while we are reminded that there is a deeper man underneath the eccentricities.  Director Werner Herzog doesn't agree with Treadwell's views of nature, but never disrespects the man as someone else might have.

I know I probably would have.

Grizzly Man is probably one of the most compelling documentaries I've ever watched.  It keeps your attention, gives you something to think about, and offers opinions from all sides of the board.  At the same time, Grizzly Man is a cautionary and unsettling tale akin to The Blair Witch Project only this time it's for real.