Project Grizzly

The movie was funny and brilliant. Here's your everyman trying to make something different and following a dream. The funny thing isn't that he tried to design the suit for Grizzly bears but that after the film he actually redirected his thinking towards a suit designed to protect firefighters. While doing this and discovering his suit wasn't safe unless it was fireproof, he managed to create a compound that MIT professors said couldn't be made. He created a ceramic? compound that he demonstrated in his own unique way. He placed a small brick of it on top of a helmet and had a braizing torch directed on the top of it for 10 minutes (at 5000 degrees). After 10 minutes the temperate had risen barely 10 degrees. A crackpot? no doubt :) But likely a backyard genius too. See it once and remember that not all inventions in history were used in the original purpose that the creator envisioned.

This documentary follows a Canadian bear researcher who builds a bear-proof suit of armour so he can confront a grizzly bear head on and live to tell the tale. This documentary on Troy Hurtubise is nothing short of hilarious! We follow troy through his building and testing of his 'grizzly-proof' suit to his hunt for the angry bear from donut shops and biker bars to the Rocky Mountains. As it's been said here, you have to love this guy, even though he's a little out there!

'A bear of a movie that had audiences howling with laughter.' - The Toronto Star

Another fine gem from the National Film Board of Canada.

This short documentary (72 min) introduces North Bay, Ontario's Troy Hurtubise, and I can assure you you won't soon forget this guy. After a near-encounter with a giant grizzly in the Canadian Rockies, Hurtubise becomes seized with the idea of building a protective body suit strong enough to let him wrestle 'the Old Man' mano-a-mano and live to tell about it.

Just the sight of this contraption will make you laugh, and there are enough scenes of the 'field-testing' to keep you in stitches as he is knocked over by flying logs, run into by a pick-up truck doing 35 clicks and shot at with a variety of firearms, all without suffering any ill effects.

Hurtubise was apparently annoyed that the film ignores the 'science'. No doubt there are practical uses for this seemingly impenetrable body suit, but discussing the chemical properties of titanium won't make for a good film. Project Grizzly is the story of a man who follows the beat of his own drummer. And it is a very funny film. Early on, the laughter may be directed AT Hurtubise, but by the end of the film the viewer has come to respect the integrity of this man's quest and to feel certain that he will achieve his objectives someday, if not just yet. An entertaining and off-beat film.

I enjoyed this film for a number of different reasons, and although it is certainly flawed, I'm definitely happy that I saw it. Troy Hurtubise comes off as an extremely likable person, and you just have to respect his effort to make a practical "grizzly-proof" suit, even if it does seem like a rather odd obsession. The movie was sometimes funny and often fascinating, so it was unfortunate that there were some boring scenes that made it past the final cut. But even with the slow spots, I have to heartily recommend this unique film. And, on a personal note, it was pretty cool to see my hometown on film...

It was many years ago I got to get to know Troy. I met him at Cracker Jacks in Lindsay Ontario. I sat and listened to a ton of stories from this man. Troy had just finished writing a book called. White Tape. Even got him to sign it. Great friend and solid man.