Timothy Treadwell spent 13 summers documenting grizzly bears in Katmai National Park on the Alaskan peninsula. On the day Treadwell was to depart from Katmai, his pilot was unable to find him.
Spotting a large creature acting peculiarly, the pilot swooped down to see a grizzly snacking on Treadwell's ribcage. Inside the bear sat the bodies of Treadwell and his girlfriend Amie Huguenard who were eaten alive the previous night.
"Grizzly Man," directed by Werner Herzog, documents the life of Timothy Treadwell and his obsessive facsination with grizzly bears.
Every summer, Treadwell went to Alaska to film and to protect grizzlies. During the winter months, he would tour schools, teaching children about grizzlies, free of charge.
Treadwell's ability to get close to the bears was both impressive and insane. In his footage, his hand is frequently captured reaching out to touch grizzlies that were just feet away. In other scenes, he was bold enough to jump in a lake to take a dip with one of his furry friends.
Herzog has directed a number of critically acclaimed documentaries including "The White Diamond" and dramas like "Aguirre, the Wrath of God." There is a fascination in all his movies with extraordinary men and their interactions with nature.
"Grizzly Man" follows suit, in that Herzog examines Treadwell's infatuation with the bears and scours the depths of his eccentic character hoping to find an explanation for his preternatural lifestyle. Herzog succeeds to some extent, delving deep into Treadwell's motives and aspirations, drawing lines between Treadwell and all of humanity.
Littered throughout the movie was Herzog's keen and insightful narration, which provides excellent scene transitions.
"As if there was a desire in him to leave the confinements of his humanness and bond with the bears, Treadwell reached out seeking a primordial encounter," Herzog says.
Herzog builds the storyline by interviewing Treadwell's friends and family in order to find the pieces necessary to complete the puzzle.
But in order to successfully put together a psychological profile of Treadwell, Herzog should have either interviewed a philosopher or a psychologist specicalizing in abnormal psychology.
Aside from Treadwell's unusual way of life, his dangerously close interaction with the grizzlies would earn the respect from any daredevil or asylum detainee.
"I think he lasted as long as he did because the bears thought there was something wrong with him. It was like he was mentally retarded or something," said a native Alaskan and a critic of Treadwell's.
After one of the bears charged at him, he stood as calm as Eastwood in a spaghetti western gunfight. Standing his ground, unflinching to the deathly effrontery of the giant bear, Treadwell fended off the attack.
"Get away! Don't do that!" Treadwell yelled.
But his love for the bears always prevailed.
"I love you. I'm sorry," Treadwell amorously exclaimed in his characterstically feminine baby talk as the bear strolled away.
The footage of the bears, the scenery, and Treadwell's charisma give the moviegoer a visual feast to devour. Magical onscreen moments like two grizzlies clashing over mating rights or the breeze of the wind against the thick of the Alaskan forest create scenes that are more valuable than any CGI production.
The only visible fault with the film is Herzog's interviewing technique. These scenes, at times, degrade the high standards of authenticity necessary for a documentary.
In one scene, Herzog films the coroner delivering to a close friend of Treadwell's the watch Treadwell was wearing when he died. The scene appears completely fabricated and totally out of place in a nature biopic. One can only assume that Herzog compelled the parties to go through with the act in order to capture some raw, but staged, emotion.
Treadwell's on-camera confessions reveal that his obsession with grizzlies was more than just a foolhardy pastime. Like Thoreau abiding in the wilderness of Walden Pond, Treadwell immersed himself in the Alaskan tundra because the grizzlies brought him closer to that primordial pull of nature. In so doing, Treadwell could become the man he felt he should be.
In an interview on "The Late Show with David Letterman," Letterman prophetically questioned Treadwell.
"Is it going to happen that one day we read a story about you being eaten by these bears?" Letterman asked.
Treadwell denied the probability of death, but did not rule out its possibility.
"If I show weakness, if I retreat, I may be hurt, I may be killed. Once there is weakness they will exploit it, they will take me out, they will decapitate me, they will chop me up in bits and pieces. I'm dead," Treadwell confessed to his camera.
Treadwell was a man that despised both civilization and humanity and made it clear during his onscreen tirade against the government. He was a failed actor, he couldn't hold a stable relationship, and he suffered from alcoholism.
But the bears and his newfound way of life changed him.
"Thank you for these animals. I had no life. I have a life now," Treadwell tearfully admitted.
"Grizzly Man" is beautiful biopic of man and nature and the unseen connection between the two. Herzog's enriching character study of Treadwell brings us closer to understanding such forces.
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Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
