Grizzly Man

The documentary “Grizzly Man” by Werner Herzog gave me mixed feelings. The film documents the last seasons of bear enthusiast Timothy Treadwell. I can’t decide whether this documentary inspired a great deal of pity for a man that seemingly went mad because of an obsession with nature. Or whether to respect him utterly for his unwavering love and dedication to bears and wildlife.

Much of the film uses Treadwell’s original footage that he shot while living alone in Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska. This is interesting because Herzog is not using material that he did not gather, and splicing it together to create a narrative of his choosing.

In terms of the characters, I did find that some of them sounded rehearsed as if they had been preparing for their interviews. A sign of this was that some of the characters had nothing to say at the end of their scenes. The medical examiner was perhaps the worst of them all because his segment looked really rehearsed. He sounded like he was reading a script versus answering questions in an interview.

Also what caught my eye was near the end when Herzog instructs Treadwell’s girlfriend to destroy the footage of the bear attack that claimed Treadwell’s life. It’s not common for a documentary filmmaker to insert himself into the actual film in such a direct way.

I enjoyed this documentary, but it felt long at times. I think that by showing some of the raw footage of Treadwell like the multiple out takes and asides he filmed while in the wild, it gave the viewer a better sense of what this misunderstood character was all about.