Grizzly Man

Plot: Werner Herzog presents a documentary detailing the life of Timothy Treadwell, a man that spent 13 years living amongst Grizzly Bears.

I suppose there's two things to cover here. Treadwell himself and Herzog's documentary.

It's clear that Treadwell had a troubled past. Drugs and alcohol supposedly leaving him to suffer a near fatal overdose. It's not a stretch to assume that this may have caused some form of mental break down, requiring him to leave the evils of society that had hurt him in such a way. He finds solace in the wild, companionship and friendship from the bears. A unique connection that no one else on the planet could experience, which is something I feel drove him to continue returning to the Bear Sanctuary year after year.

It's remarkable that he lasted through 13 summers in the way that he did, though I feel that this was more through luck than any great judgement. Treadwell seemingly meant to leave the bears earlier in this final summer, like he did in the years before. An altercation at the airport led him to return to spend extra time at the end of the season. Seemingly this was the most dangerous time as desperate and hungry bears were more abundant as food became scarce. His death is made to seem inevitable by many people in the documentary, but it seems to me that had he followed his usual pattern, he may still be visiting the bears today.

Although it is important to consider that he carried a dark side with him. The curse-laden rant is a clear example of the fact that he could become very negative at times. Negative against the world that had hurt him, certainly, but it's not to say that negativity towards the natural but imperfect actions of the animals around him wouldn't eventually lead him to do something stupid.

I didn't know much of Timothy Treadwell before this documentary, but he was certainly shown to be a unique and fascinating individual. Whether he was right or wrong to do what he did, he did it with a conviction and died doing what he loved.

Herzog's documentary is put together well to really let the audience connect with the person. It's a unique documentary because it's rare that a person would leave so much of themselves on film, creating a character of themselves that could later be cut and edited as a character to suit a biographical narrative. Herzog clearly treats this with respect, showing a deep range of the character's emotions and his soul, as well as the extraordinary beauty that the character managed to capture.

Interspersed between the camera footage are interviews with Treadwell's friends and family. Here, Herzog allows the audience to get a sense of the effect that Treadwell had on the people's world around him. How people talk of him with God-like reverence, grand speculation and sad disdain.

Herzog subtly gives his conclusions, but not in a way that interfered with the audience's own and that's a real gift in documentary film-making.