Grizzly Man (2005) Timothy Treadwell had the kind of life that only unabomber-types can relate too, for the most part, although I’m sure there are plenty of people who secretly wish they could just leave society and live a solitary existence among nature. I’m not so sure that many people would choose to spend all that free time with wild grizzly bears.
Director Werner Herzog pieces together footage taken by Treadwell and his girlfriend Amie over the course of 13 summers in the Alaskan wilderness as they live amongst the animals and, in some sort of personal crusade, vow to protect them. Throughout the film we are given a look into the mind of Treadwell, who appears most of the time in close proximity to the bears, and we come to truly believe that he actually believes what he is telling us, that the bears are not out to harm him, that they understand his approach and they appreciate it. Not meant to be, however, as most sane people could tell you, for grizzly bears are not full of human emotion, they are full of survival instincts, and in the end it is one of Treadwell’s ‘friends’ who devours he and Amie in the wilderness, the audio of the attack available only to Herzog who decided not to include it in the film (we have a powerful shot of the director listening to the sound of them being torn to pieces on large headphones and declaring that it should be destroyed.)
What you take from this film may be personal to you, but for me it is simply another story of how crazy humans can be when they obsess over something, but also how it is not our rite to tell them not to do something, even if it means they may become bear food.
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