Grizzly Man

There's a good chance you've heard of the "Grizzly Man," a guy who spent thirteen years living with grizzly bears who was ultimately killed an eaten by one along with his girlfriend. His name was Timothy Treadwell, and this documentary tells the story of his late life among the grizzlies and his - some would say inevitable - death. Before I go any further, I have to point out that this was quite a disturbing movie. Not only is it haunting to watch a man rave about how much he loves grizzly bears literally hours before he gets killed by a grizzly bear, but the graphic details of the kill scene, found a day after the attack, are provided as well. Timothy's mangled head, part of his spine, and one arm remain. When park rangers kill a bear and perform a necropsy on it, they find its stomach filled with clothing, fingers, limbs, and human hair. Worst of all, Timothy's camera was running during the fatal attack, and while we're spared the audio of his dying cries and his girlfriend's desperate screams, we witness the documentary's director and narrator, Werner Herzog, listening to the audio on headphones, and can see how deeply disturbed and shaken he is. It was like watching a "Two Girls, One Cup" reaction video, only far more macabre and chilling. And speaking of Werner Herzog, his cold and thickly German-accented narration only further serves to create an air of unease throughout the documentary. The film is really primarily a character study of Timothy Treadwell, and plenty of time is spent on interviews with his parents, some ex-girlfriends, and some of the local authorities - park rangers, helicopter pilots - familiar with Timothy and his work. His work, for lack of a better word, was to film and study grizzly bears. It's very clear that Timothy holds a special place in his heart for wildlife. This love for animals ranges from "cute and normal," like when he befriends a family of foxes who frequent his campsite, and "mentally deranged," like when he openly weeps over the beauty of a big pile of bear shit. The cynical nature in all of us - filmmakers and interviewees included - makes it easy to say that a man who spent thirteen years trying to befriend grizzly bears had this coming. That a bear is a bear, incapable of love or friendship or kin, and that one day a big old bear decided it was hungry, or maybe just annoyed by Timothy, and did what bears tend to do, and killed and ate him. But to dismiss Timothy as a nutjob is far too easy, and is also to miss the point of this film. "Crazy" is a strong word, and while Timothy certainly did and said some very crazy things, I don't know if it's entirely fair to call him a crazy person. A foolish one, definitely. Blinded by his passion for grizzly bears and either oblivious or far too careless of the dangers involved with living among them, Timothy is difficult to feel complete sympathy for; he was one of the foremost grizzly experts in the world, and knew exactly what they were capable of. In that regard, perhaps he was like Steve Irwin in that both men had a tragic demise brought on by an intense passion for wildlife and the risks associated with close encounters with said wildlife. It's hard to believe Timothy didn't have this ultimate end in store, but it's also hard not to still feel sorry for him and his plight all the same. Perhaps the most tragic figure in the entire tale is his girlfriend, Amie, who died at his side in the grizzly bear attack, and who never even liked bears a lot to begin with. According to diary entries made by the pair of them, Amie was very uncomfortable being around the bears so often, and often demanded that they leave or at least relocate. She must have had some sort of passion for wildlife of her own to even tolerate Timothy in the first place, but she absolutely comes across as an innocent victim, a woman caught in the middle of Timothy's obsession whose biggest mistake was not making good on her threats to leave. Adding to the depressing nature of the whole story, the pair were killed just one day before their scheduled departure from the camp after spending an entire summer there. All in all, this was a somewhat moving and very disturbing documentary, and while I'd watch it again and give any interested party the green light on seeing it, I can't say I slept easy last night, tossing and turning and unable to get bear attacks out of my head. I've seen scarier and more harrowing movies, but this documentary was just plain chilling.