Grizzly Man (2005)

Wow! Such a good movie.

Wonderful character development!

it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

I must say that I had never heard of this guy until three days ago. Well, I'm Brazilian and Timothy Treadwell is completely unknown in my country (although I believe he must be famous in the United States). Then as I heard of him? To summarize: the internet. I was on youtube watching a video of the naturalist Casey Anderson playing with a brown bear named Bella. So I was reading the page comments, and I saw someone to comment in irony tone: "Don't be another Timothy Treadwell." This immediately aroused my curiosity. Who is this guy? When searching on Google, I found the biography of this man, a supposed passionate naturalist by bears in Alaska, who died tragically eaten by a bear in 2003, along with his girlfriend. Only this information impressed me, and when I found out they had made a documentary about his life and his filming, of course I wanted to watch the film. Well, after finishing seeing "The Grizzly Man" last night, I leave here my main impressions:I can understand the love of Timothy by nature and by the bears, because I also love nature, I also love bears - they are really impressive, beautiful and majestic creatures. But one thing is you love and admire something, another thing is you dangerously invade the wild space, ignoring the natural laws, and ignoring the true nature of bears and their true human nature. Although he recorded impressive scenes, such as the grand struggle of male bears by a female, which show to us the immense power of these animals, Timothy's recklessness and narcissism are evident. Philosophically speaking, I disagree with Timothy and with the Herzog director's view of what is Nature. I don't see nature with the naive and childish view that everything is harmony, peace and beauty, but I don't have this depressing view that everything is pure chaos and sheer destruction. I think the nature is a mixed and combination of both. Yes, I see moments of destruction, cruelty and suffering in it, but I also see moments of beauty, joy and harmony. I think the question is have the wisdom to know, to study and to understand the beautiful and the ugly at the same time.For me, the documentary worked as an unintended comedy. There are sad moments, as the moment when Herzog heard the tape recording when Timothy and his girlfriend were attacked, but most of the time, I found myself crying laughing. The part where Timothy is in ecstasy for see a bear poop is hilarious. The part where a interviewed criticizes him without mercy saying that the bears think him like a mentally retarded also made me laugh. Undoubtedly, Timothy Treadwell was a very bizarre dude, but their relatives and friends are also unintentionally comic figures. I mean, the mother and father, his ex-girlfriend, the "platonic" friend, and the mustache guy in the helicopter who found his remains are creatures as eccentric as Timothy. The only person who seemed more normal next him was Amie, after all, she was afraid of bears and not approached them so dangerously. Unfortunately she hardly appears and remains unknown to us. In fact, this film is not about bears, but about a bizarre dude called Timothy Treadwell.

A decade ago, the news reported that some guy who loved to film Grizzly bears was eaten by the creatures. This didn't surprise me but I thought it was an awfully sad story. Little did I know that the guy who was killed (along with a companion) was a complete idiot--and his death shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone, much like the death of the Crocodile Hunter. You don't take unnecessary and insane risks around extremely dangerous animals--and they really don't have too many creatures on Earth that are as dangerous and mean as these animals! Yet, Timothy Treadwell reveled in getting extremely close and even touching wild bears--and videotaping his exploits. Well, he got his wish...one of the bears ending up eating him and his partner and it was actually recorded by his cameras. Fortunately, filmmaker Werner Herzog did NOT reveal this footage but tries to reconstruct what occurred and investigate this strange man and those who knew him. How did he morph from a seemingly normal kid to an alcoholic to a nature lover? And, did he really end up helping the bears...and did they even need helping?This is a fascinating documentary and that doesn't surprise me, as Herzog's best work (despite fame for his feature films) are his documentaries. He takes a simple story and breathes life into it and investigates far deeper than you might find with other documentarians. I think some of this is because although Herzog is troubled by some aspects of Treadwell and criticizes Treadwell, he also seems to feel a certain respect and admiration for him as well---particularly Treadwell's very exacting and personal style of making films.While some might find the film overly long (it features LOTS of video of Treadwell talking on and on and on), I appreciate that it DOES give so much. It helps the viewer to construct an interesting portrait of the guy--a person who seems to be a combination of a narcissist and with an addictive personality and a death wish as well as having a tenuous grasp on reality. This reality distortion is more and more pronounced as the film progresses. He seems to think he is somehow THE man to protect the species and no one else can--though the bears in the film apparently were NOT at risk and didn't need protecting. He also is so into being around the bears that he seems to lose perspective in other ways--such as practically wetting himself in excitement when he finds fresh bear poo and plays with it! Truly a bizarre man--and the film does a great job of putting this across to the viewer. Overall, a strangely compelling and strange film.

If Timothy Treadwell had been a test pilot, a volcanologist, a doctor working with Ebola patients in Africa, a Christian martyr, or anyone else who believes in, and loves what they do enough to back it with their lives, no one would denigrate him or flood his contribution with hate. But Timothy Treadwell is vilified.No one regards the Kraffts as crazed loonies; neither do they Gus Grissom, St. Peter, or scientists who die to find cures and to help end suffering. We grant them their "crazy" cause, even though they knew the risks involved. We admire, even worship,some of them; but Tim Treadwell is vilified.In our upside down societies, we pay to see Evil Kinevels jump canyons; we thrill to death defying, pointless stunts like high speed car and boat races; yet Tim Treadwell is vilified.For any uninitiated folk, park rangers cannot protect bears 100% of the time and poachers do not respect laws (hence the name,"poacher"); it does not matter what areas are set aside for bear safety. Recently,a man was caught in a Northwestern airport trying to smuggle a large cache of bear gizzards and paws to China. In the scene showing the bear's carcus, the one who killed Tim and Amie, observe the severed paw(s). This was done so someone could make a buck selling them. What the bear did was Nature; what the human did was perversion; the reason Timothy was there in the first place.Fish and Wildlife Departments are owned by hunters and exist, not for the protection of wildlife, but for Man's killing pleasure.Timothy Treadwell WAS protecting bears. He brought a spotlight to the entire issue of animal and human rights. Amie died because she was willing to do so for the person she loved. This was her choice and should be honored. Amie was an incredibly brave human being; let no one use her courage to disparage the very purpose of her death.All saints and crusaders for any cause, all envelope pushers in whatever field, are committed to something more important to them than their lives, than the brief and otherwise mundane existence the rest of us choose to lead.In defense of our own self to our self, we somehow must account for this greater courage than our own. We thus denigrate or worship the Tim Treadwells of our world. We worship those we agree with, and deny those we don't. But no matter which, we must bow to their bravery to live and die beyond the usual,the secure confines of our own decisions.Safety does not give immortality, but passion gives life. Timothy Treadwell lead a passionate and worthwhile life. Albert Schweitzer said, "We are life which wills to live in the midst of life which wills to live." I thank Timothy Treadwell for reminding us that bears have the will, and the right, to live.

The last Herzog documentary I watched was LAND OF SILENCE AND DARKNESS, a moving piece obviously shot a very long time ago. GRIZZLY MAN is something else entirely: a mainstream, English-language film that tells the unforgettable story of one isolated man and his (very) close encounters with wild grizzly bears in Alaska.You can see why Herzog was drawn to this material, as it's perfect for him. Themes explores include man vs the wild, human loners, hints at madness, the cruelty of the animal world, and of course death and destruction. Herzog has taken some 100 hours of camcorder footage shot by Timothy Treadwell out in the wild, and made a thoroughly compelling narrative out of here.As a film, GRIZZLY MAN has it all. There are more fascinating glimpses of the wild and its creatures than in an Attenborough documentary. There's a kooky, intriguing protagonist who seems on edge throughout. There's unexpected humour, alongside tragedy and triumph, and a great score. It's haunting and beautiful and everything in-between, and truly one of the most profound films I've ever watched. In fact, I can't wait to see it again...