Grizzly Man (2005)

For 13 years, Timothy Treadwell spent a few months each year living in the wilderness.  But unlike most campers, Treadwell's goal was to interact with grizzly bears on a personal level, as well as champion their protection.  He brought a video camera with him and his footage is amazing.  There are close up shots of animals in the wild.  Generally they ignore him but sometimes they approach to check him out.  A plus for the footage is that Treadwell's cinematography is really well done.

Cute little foxes follow him around and he pats them as if they are house pets.  He stands his ground when bears approach and puts out his hand so they can sniff his scent as he gently speaks to them. When bears get pushy, he scolds them.  He even gets in a pond with a bathing bear and touches it's back as he walks by.  The bear is not amused.

But for all the tranquility and good intentions, the portrait of Treadwell also shows a man who manufactures his own image and spews vitriol at society.  He does take after take of the same dialogue, trying to hone his delivery and movements, while also trying on different clothing and colored bandannas.  He always claims to be alone, but his girlfriend was on a few trips including his last one.

He is also way too emotionally involved with the bears.  He has nicknames for them all and mistakenly believes that they have accepted him into the bear brotherhood.  He speaks of the emotional connection he has with the bears, but as director Werner Herzog points out, there is nothing in the bears eyes that shows any connection to Tim.  He is seeing them through his own desires and interests.  Who wouldn't want to believe they have a connection with the animals they champion?  Also he is so into the bears that he gets misty eyed over their scat, which is an embarrassing obsessive view and so odd it makes the viewer uncomfortable.

In his last shot footage, it is obvious that he has come to believe his own mythology.  He stands in the middle of what he refers to as the Bear Maze and indignantly shouts that no one could survive here except him.  He knows how to commune with his brother bears. They love and respect him, as he does them.  This special bond he's fostered allows him to camp right next to their paths as he is one with the bears.

The sad thing is he was wrong.  Whether Treadwell became careless or whether he thought he was their brother, he stays later than usual in the season.  Food is hard to find and the bears he knows have already started hibernating.  The bears around now are unfamiliar to him.  Unfortunately his location in the Bear Maze and his lack of fear lead to his downfall when he and his girlfriend are attacked and killed by that which he loves - a bear.

Treadwell shot amazing footage and was fearless with the bears.  The documentary is fascinating, and while it is respectful, it also includes other viewpoints of people who thought he was doing the bears a disservice. So there's an overall tone of loss from the people who knew and loved him, but there is input from those who thought he was crazy or that his involvement was self serving and hurt the bears he purported to love.

I highly recommend this documentary. The footage is fantastic.  At times you'll be caught up in his passion, while at other times it will make you uncomfortable when he starts crying over scat or goes on  some crazy rant about society and how people treat bears.

After I watched this, I was asked what I thought about Treadwell.  My response? "He's kind of crazy. They're bears."