Grizzly Man (2005)

I've wanted to check out Grizzly Man for a while, and have been waiting endlessly for a theater nearby to show it. The small, artsy theater downtown finally stopped holding over Broken Flowers for 'one more week!' and decided to bless us with Herzog's latest masterpiece. And yes, I said masterpiece. Watching the film, I was completely enthralled, and my mind never once wandered, and was always kept completely occupied. Naturally, I thought it was great, but a few days afterwards, it lingered with me. Sure, some films stay with you for a while afterwards, once in a while popping into your thoughts. But, Grizzly Man held a lot of space in my mind, and still does, almost a week later. A good way to describe it is when you're trying to forget a lover, yet you can't get them out of your head.

So, I have to wonder, what is so special about Grizzly Man, that it has this effect on me? It's not the bears, as I've no leaning for or against them, really. Of course, technically, it's all top-notch. But, what I keep coming back to is the fact that it makes me think. It may not have the same effect on anyone else, but the film continues to make me think about it, to try and ponder its questions, argue them in my own head, ask others their opinions, and try to put myself in the shoes of those presented in the film.

Of course, the film is about Timothy Treadwell, a man who spent 13 summers living with the grizzly bears in Alaska. He spent a lot of his free time speaking at elementary and high schools around the country, telling stories and facts all about the bears he knew so closely, and all pro bono. If you read anything on the film, it comes as no surprise, a few moments in, when it's revealed that Treadwell was killed by a bear on his last trip to Alaska. I didn't think this had much bearing on the film, but it obviously does, the more I think about it, because you know that no matter what, he's still going to end up dead at the end of the story. So, when you see him getting along with bears and trying to assimilate, no matter how much progress he might be making, you still know he died at the hands (paws?) of one of them. Of course, that raises a whole bunch of rhetorical questions that the film explores.

Why did Treadwell die, after all he did for these bears? One man interviewed said that Treadwell crossed an invisible boundary and that it was an inevitability, but those who knew and loved Treadwell offer other possible explanations. Then, of course, you have to wonder about the intelligence of the bears, did they have any idea that Treadwell was trying to help them, or did they simply see him as an intruder after all this time? Naturally, your brain starts working on the next line of questioning, are we really that different from bears? What would happen if a bear tried to assimilate into our culture, as silly as it sounds? Even now, my mind keeps branching off, attempting to think about all of these different ideas.

From the moment I first saw a Herzog film, I knew that he was a man obsessed with obsession. He allowed himself to be consumed entirely by his works, and his works usually centered on those consumed with their own works, notably Brian Sweeny Fitzgerald in Fitzcarraldo. And, it's interesting to note the parallels between Herzog's work and Treadwell's work. In fact, if it weren't a documentary, I'd be certain that Treadwell was a creation of Herzog's, through and through. In fact, I started to doubt the validity of the film in some parts, and still do, just because it's Herzog, ever the phrankster. He did the same thing with Incident at Loch Ness, but that was incredibly funny and mostly opaque, while Grizzly Man is mainly a serious examination of Treadwell's life and death.

Timothy himself is a mixed bag. He's very charismatic, and it's hard not to be won over by his enthusiasm, his friendly nature and his generosity. Yet, there's a sense of uneasiness about him. As you watch him, you can sense the dread, simply because he's so consumed with his obsession, you're sure it will be his downfall. I was impressed most with his love for the bears. Obviously, he loves them, but it's something more than that, and though it may not be the right way to describe it, it reminds me much of Faith. These bears have done absolutely nothing for him, really, yet he's making it his life's work to study them, live with them, and protect them the best he can, and he asks nothing in return, except for their safety and happiness.

There are quite a few funny parts in the film, like Treadwell's rant on the park service (you'd think Scorsese wrote the dialogue here), his constant compulsive perfectionism as he tries to get parts of his footage just right, and a moment where a fox runs off with his hat. In fact, the foxes add a great touch, as they're very cute and it's heartwarming to see Treadwell getting along with them.

It's not entirely one-sided, though. There are a few people who disagreed with what Treadwell was doing. Even the people closest to him, who loved him, ultimately paint an unflattering portrait of him, even his own parents, citing his bout with alcoholism. Yet, that's one of Grizzly Man's themes, an honest portrait of a man doing what he thought was right, for better or worse.