Grizzly Man

Grizzly Man is the story of how one man's obsession to save grizzly bears from supposed extinction turned into tragedy. Over the course of 13 summers, Timothy Treadwell traveled to the Alaskan wilderness to live among these ferociously awesome creatures he considered his personal friends. The problem was, they were not becoming extinct; in fact, the remote wilderness he traveled to was a federally protected reserve. Werner Herzog deftly sifts through hundreds of hours of home-video footage shot by Treadwell over the course of five years to present a complex portrait of a man consumed by his need to retreat from human society.

From Kaspar Hauser to Deter Dengler, Herzog continues his examination of men on the brink. In addition, Herzog reveals his own views on nature and the nature of man. Believing that nature is violent, he attempts to uncover Treadwell's reasoning and shows us a man whose obsessions eventually cost him his life. Those around Treadwell supported his work and deemed him a tireless activist whose love of children led him to preach about the grizzly bears when he was not living among them. Others thought of him as a man who not only disturbed the bears' habitat, but also taught them to no longer fear humans, thereby endangering their lives. As Herzog uncovers more about Treadwell, we learn that he was not only an out-of-work actor, but also a recovering drug addict whose life was changed by his relationship with the grizzlies.

There are many moments when we are presented with a possible madman, the most poignant when Treadwell goes on a rampage against government officials he claims are unjustly attempting to remove him from the reserve. Herzog's narration never paints Treadwell as a lunatic, but as the footage rolls serious mental issues become clear, especially that he had transferred his addiction to drugs to the grizzly bears. By not exploiting the last moments of Treadwell and his girlfriend (they recorded the sound of their own deaths), Herzog manages to explore their lives without exploiting them. To wit, Grizzly Man is a cautionary tale of man's delicate relationship with nature, emphasizing that we must treat nature with care, consideration, and much trepidation.

                                             Moira Griffin