Grizzly Man [2005]
Director: Werner Herzog
Genre: Documentary/Biography
Language: English
Country: USA

With Grizzly Man, director Werner Herzog created a documentary about the life of Timothy Treadwell, a man who spent several summers living amongst grizzly bears in the Alaska wilderness before ultimately being mauled and killed by one of them. To make this documentary, Herzog waded through hundreds of hours of videos filmed directly by Treadwell, and most of this movie is pieced together via his footage. Interspersed between these clips (which often include breathtaking footage of Alaska and some close encounters with the bears) are brief interviews and recountings from those who knew Treadwell. After hearing from those nearest to him, many things become clear about this man and exactly why the hell we would want to tempt fate.

For one, Treadwell was egotistical and a classic narcissist. The only thing he cared about was himself, and it is rather unfortunate that during his last two trips into the wilderness he brought his girlfriend with him (she was also killed by the same bear). As a former junkie and failed actor, Treadwell had little to live for and somehow decided that hanging out with grizzly bears was the right thing for him to do. He clearly had no regard for his fellow human peers because by living in the bear’s natural habitat, it made them feel more comfortable with humans and could ultimately cost more people their lives if they attempt to get as close as Treadwell did. Also, for a man who loved the bears as much as he did, he ended up doing them a great disservice since the bear who killed him was gunned down by those attempting to find the bodies of him and his girlfriend. The man clearly had a strong mental illness, and it is rather tragic that he was never properly helped in a manner that would have caused him to avoid living this life.

It is hard to enjoy a documentary about a man who is so self-centered and completely off-the-wall, a man who claims to love the grizzly bears but shows complete ignorance by invading their habitat. As such, it was hard for me to sit through this film’s full 100 minutes. Herzog shot a well-crafted documentary, and as mentioned before, some of the footage that Treadwell filmed is extraordinary, but I can’t help but feel that there are more worthy targets to document. Timothy Treadwell was absolutely crazy, and his story really does not need to be glorified.

6/10