Film Reviews

Grizzly Man

• Rating:
• Director: Werner Herzog
• Starring: Timothy Treadwell
• Details: US, 104mins, 15s.

A failed actor, recovering alcoholic and self-proclaimed bear-guardian, Timothy Treadwell spent 13 summers protecting grizzly bears at perilously close range in a remote Alaskan peninsula - and then they killed him. Trying to be a Diane Fossey for the '90s, the only mist Treadwell encountered was the red haze descending on his disillusioned mind as the man suffered from a delusion of grandeur, convincing himself of a mystical connection between him and the bears. His 'honest' straight-to-camera commentary depicted a man at odds with himself and what he called the human world; however, the irony that Treadwell died at the paws of those he was trying to 'protect' was not lost on the local National Park inhabitants, who felt that Treadwell was only dicing with death in getting so close to the grizzlies. In fact, they lament his disrespect for the wildness of their nature: "You don't invade their territory. There has been an unspoken boundary for 7000 years and when you cross it, you pay the price." Treadwell was obviously in love with himself more than his hairy friends; at times he worries more about his receding hair line than the bears themselves, and he feels no embarrassment in boasting that "I am a kind warrior" and "I can smell death all over my fingers." Director Herzog edits footage of Treadwell's documentaries with his own interviews to piece together a character of a man who tried all his life to be someone else; in the end we are left with an innocent child-like man (he still brings his teddy on his expeditions) who was looking for some meaning in his life. Herzog praises his motives - Treadwell travelled around schools showing his footage to school children while never once soliciting a fee - and his skills as a documentary maker, as Treadwell's footage boasts coverage that studio directors with union crews wouldn't have got. Grizzly Man is a captivating and intriguing documentary, and a thought-provoking insight to one man's struggle - the shame is that the real struggle is with reality.

Review by Gavin Burke