GRIZZLY MAN

GRIZZLY MAN
By Ken Leicht

GRIZZLY MAN, while not a horror film, is horrific in many ways. After all, getting eaten alive by a bear has got to be a little frightening. This documentary film tells the story of the final days of Timothy Treadwell, amateur conservationist and filmmaker who spent 13 years hanging out amongst the grizzly bears. The 13th summer proved to be the unlucky one for him as he and his girlfriend ended up killed and eaten at the hands, or claws rather, of one of his beloved bears.

Through the use of interviews with friends and family, and through Timothy’s footage, we get a picture of a young man driven for some reason to want to protect Grizzlies and also to live among them unprotected. While the film never quite can find the answers, it does paint a vivid picture of the delusions that consumed Timothy (and one that IMHO is shared by a lot of animal rights activists) that somehow animals are kindred spirits and can be our friends. The truth is sadly that animals are still savage and would eat us if they could. Director Werner Herzog reaches this conclusion as well by looking into the eyes of the grizzly as captured by Timothy’s camera.

While the bear attack is never shown (it was recorded on video but the cap was on the lens so only audio exists, which we also don’t hear), the sounds of it are described by the coroner who heard it. And the emotional reaction from Werner Herzog who is allowed to listen to is pretty powerful. Knowing Timothy’s horrible fate gives a feeling of doom which hangs over the picture and makes one feel some of the sadness for Timothy, especially when he’s hanging out with friendly foxes who aren’t scared of him.

It’s hard to say in the end what to make of all this but the fact that Timothy did what he did, captured what he did on film, and then caught the attention of one of the more unique individuals in filmmaking Werner Herzog, who is no stranger to madness and self-delusional behavior, makes GRIZZLY MAN and it’s subject all the more fascinating. What makes it scary is that it shows the truth that most of us deny: That we are all delusional about our place in the world and likely in the reality of the world. We think we’re the big cheese around here but once we step outside our safe neighborhood and go back into the wild lands, it’s a different story. Those who would blindly and fanatically want to protect animals from man to the point of madness might do well to remember that even the family house cat would eat us for lunch if it could.

Finally, the scariest thing about the film may be Richard Thompson’s Grizzly Man song. Poo-ya, poo-ya, poo. Scary.