El hombre oso

I have so far resisted peer pressure to watch more than the first episodes of Tiger King, but I can still say with confidence that Grizzly Man is vastly superior.

It's truly incredible the amount of empathy Herzog is able to generate for such a misguided, kooky person. It's all the more impressive to see the contrast between Timothy Treadwell's sentimentalized view of nature with Herzog's (and my, for that matter) view that nature is indifferent and chaotic. To mix these two contrasting philosophies with what are, in some sense, two different films--Treadwell's footage and Herzog's narration and interviews--make for something truly moving and insightful.

For 13 summers, animal activist Timothy Treadwell traveled to Alaska to live among and "protect" his most cherished of creatures, the Grizzly bear. During the last 5 of those seasons, he brought video equipment to capture his interactions with the native wildlife. Unfortunately for him and his girlfriend, the number 13 would prove most unlucky as both were eaten by, unsurprisingly- A Grizzly.

Enter filmmaker legend Werner Herzog. With over 100 hours of footage and an immense belief, he gives us "Grizzly Man", a superb documentary far more involved with frail human conditions than anything about nature.

With Treadwell as the main attraction, it couldn't have been any other way. It is truly mind-boggling to witness all the mental/emotional problems colliding and bubbling so, so close to the surface- Exaggerated ego, self-loathing, (possibly) repressed homosexuality, willful ignorance, dangerous hypocrisy, and some form of bi-polar disorder are just some of them.

Here are some pretty good examples:

Throughout the film, Treadwell boasts of unsurpassed expertise and intimacy when dealing with bears, but as it happens, he has NO form of training dealing with wildlife whatsoever. He went from being a wannabe actor with alcohol and drug issues to super-activist almost overnight and with too few questions.

Treadwell repeatedly speaks of his contempt for mankind, yet he somehow manages to endow the bears around him with very human characteristics. Full of delusion, he sees love in cold eyes and takes "Back off dude" gestures as welcoming advances.

20 takes and multiple diatribes, all while mugging for the camera, seriously clouds Treadwell's integrity in several instances. And finally............

If you're going to brag about being the bears "only protector", you really shouldn't do it when you and the animals always reside on a government sponsored preserve. Furthermore, when tourists throw rocks at your "friends" and you hide in the bushes and do nothing about it because you can't "blow your cover", it's time to question your protective abilities.

Believe me, there is MUCH more, but hopefully these will be just enough to grab your interest.

Now as far as Herzog's work goes, it's quite good. He intersperses footage with interviews evenly and keeps things flowing nicely. Admittedly, a large portion of the interviews feel contrived/staged and some footage seems redundant, but on the overall, this a well put together and absorbing package.

In the end, "Grizzly Man" is an excellent viewing experience about a complicated, troubled man-child and his severely misguided endeavors.

(Strangely enough, Treadwell had a far more genuine bond with the foxes of the preserve; they really seemed to care for him and enjoy his company. Maybe if he had focused on them, he'd still be with us.)

Warner Herzog is a brilliant and masterful director. The way he put together the story of Tim Treadwell and his life with grizzly's defies the constructs of formulaic "nature" doc's. It goes deep, as we are allowed to dive into the mind and psyche's of both Treadwell and Herzog as Treadwell's fated story is revealed to us through bits of the 100 hours of footage Treadwell left behind, new interviews, insights, and a brilliant and personal narrative done by Herzog himself.

As Herzog gets to know Treadwell through his footage and loved ones left behind, he is touched, changed, and allows the audience to revel in his new found awe, frustrations, and respect for Treadwell's life.

The film documents the life of "the Girzzly Man" timothy Treadwell through his leftover footage from thirteen summers he lived with, and immersed himself into the grizzly habitat and culture. He felt he was a grizzly, and thus broke boundaries that have been respected among the Alaskan natives concerning these brown beasts. He created what he felt to be a bond, a brotherhood with these majestic animals. But was this conquest purely for scientific reasoning or was he truly terrified of the "human world." That is where Herzog directs this film.

The fascinating thing about Herzog's interviews is what he catches after his participants are done answering his questions, and we see these souls search and ponder for answers to questions they may never know the answer too.

"Grizzly Man" won the Alfred P. Sloan award at this years Sundance film festival, which goes to the film felt to tie in science and discovery into normal narrative paradigm. This film deserved it's praise and was thusly purchased for theatrical release by Lions Gate before it's release on television through Discovery films.

When you get the chance, don't just run to your local theater or television to view this masterpiece, leap and sprint. This is an important and beautiful piece, one that will touch and move all those who allow it to. This is the best of the fest in my opinion, and maybe even of the year, and it is only January.

***Possible Spoilers*** "Grizzly Man" is a documentary of Tim Treadwell who spends 13 summers in Alaska living amongst grizzly bears and eventually loses his life to the creatures to which he devoted all his heart.

I saw "Grizzly Man" without knowing anything about it. I first thought it would be a documentary about the beauty and behavior of grizzly bears. However, through Tim Treadwell's interaction with grizzly bears, Werner Herzog shows that this film is actually about the inadequacies and insecurities of human nature.

Tim Treadwell seems to be the culmination of many of the deficiencies that man possesses. I felt absolutely no sympathy for this individual, despite the fact that he suffered a tragic and horrible death. If it weren't bears that killed him, it probably would've been something else. He was definitely headed toward a downward spiral. I felt like he was a man who ran away from his demons because he could not face or overcome it. He developed high "ideals" and when he could not adjust his values and beliefs to that of society, he abandoned it and sought out for acceptance from creatures that are incapable of judging or criticizing Treadwell. Unfortunately, Treadwell mistakes the grizzly bears' indifference or incompetence as a sign of acceptance, and falls in love with them.

Treadwell displayed behavior suggestive of manic depressive disorder, or cyclothymic disorder, or histrionic personality disorder. His emotional reactions to incidents were over dramatic to the point that one questions whether it's genuine. I also thought that he was a closet homosexual who could not accept his sexual orientation. In the film, Treadwell talks about wishing he were gay because it would be easier, but he denies being gay. He also talks about how he has trouble with keeping relationships with girls. I know this is a big assumption, but I couldn't help but question whether he was running away from civilization hoping he didn't have to face the reality of his sexual orientation. Treadwell is a person who does not know himself, and is afraid to find out.

I also did not like the fact that Treadwell was on this unsubstantiated high horse. This self-proclaimed protector of animals and nature displays his hypocrisy in at least 2 scenes. When Treadwell stumbles upon poachers who throw rocks at a baby cub, all he does is hide behind a bush and criticizes the hunters for hurting the bear. Not quite what a "protector" would do. Also, when Treadwell discovers the dead fox, he gets angry for the destruction and death that exists in this world. However, he doesn't blink twice to try to swap a fly that is buzzing around the fox. Obviously he shows no respect for the fly, which is also a living organism.

Also, throughout the film, most of Treadwell's friends glorify all that he represented. It seems that his death has elevated him to a martyr, and I found that inappropriate. I don't believe one's achievements in life should be overblown and exaggerated because he or she suffered a tragic and violent death. Based on Treadwell's self-recordings, I find that he has done nothing to deserve any praise. The way he died is sad, but that should not have any bearing on what he did in life. If anything, Treadwell encroached upon the grizzly bears' territory, and abused their independence and way of life in order to hide behind the mask of his own demons. I find nothing altruistic about his actions because of that.

In the film, Herzog says that death and destruction is a unavoidable reality of nature, and he has done a brilliant job in portraying that. My take home message was that everything bad in this world exists because man is too weak and feeble-minded to transcend beyond our natural tendencies to destroy his surroundings and to self-destruct. And Treadwell is the perfect example. Great job Mr. Herzog.

I like it when I do know know how to feel! Herzog seems to start out by portraying a man, Timothy Treadwell, as a crazy, self-obsessed (NOT Grizzly-obsessed) individual who gets himself and his girlfriend killed for no purpose, in the Alaskan wilderness. Initially I thought that the story was a cross between 'Jackass' and the Discovery Channel - you have a dopey, though he only sounds like it, blonde surfer type who likes to approach (awfully close) and make sweet-talk with 10-foot bears. Viewers might see Timothy as a reckless, selfish misfit, but as the film continues, your appreciation for his cause deepens - but what is his cause? Is it to work out personal demons? Absolutely. Treadwell clearly has mental/emotional problems, just listen to how many times he tells the wild animals "I love you!" or when he talks about his lack of success with "human women." But his passion for the grizzlies and their wilderness is real. Herzog particularly commends him as a filmmaker, seizing unique opportunities and rendering priceless footage. Do not forget that TT lived close to the bears for 13 years (including the year he was killed) without harm; and that his success, his careful, intuitive, loving behavior was only partly self-aggrandizing.