Shout out to my good friend for recommending this film.
Grizzly Man is a documentary, not a movie, but I thought it was captivating enough to warrant a review.
I’d actually seen it once as an undergrad for a class entitled “An Intellectual History of Animality.” As the name should make clear, it was a cool fucking class. But that was four years ago, and I didn’t remember much of the documentary, so I figured I’d check it out again.
Grizzly Man captures the life and death of bear enthusiast Timothy Treadwell and his girlfriend Amie Huguenard at Alaska’s Katmai National Park. Treadwell had spent thirteen summers at Katmai, camping amongst the park’s wild bears. Over time, Treadwell came to believe that he had a special connection with the bears, and he felt he had a duty to protect the bears from poachers and other human encroachers. Huguenard would sometime accompany Treadwell on his trips. On October 5, 2003, Treadwell and Huguenard were attacked and killed by a bear after they stayed past the summer season.
The film was directed by Werner Herzog.
Treadwell had shot over 100 hours of video footage while camping in the park, and snippets of this footage are interspersed throughout the film. Herzog also interviews Treadwell’s friends and family members, as well as bear experts and park rangers.
Grizzly Man is not a film about bears. It’s a film about Treadwell — who he was, what he believed, why he did what he did. Herzog attempts to answer these questions by consulting all the pertinent sources: Treadwell’s video footage, his diary, his parents, his childhood, his friends, various conservation experts, you name it. It feels a little bit like detective work.
And yet, Treadwell’s motivations ultimately remain a mystery, both to Herzog and the viewer. The reasons for his behavior can be surmised, but never known conclusively. I think this is one of the main things Herzog was getting at: the inevitable limits we face when trying to understand another person. The impossibility of truly comprehending a fellow human being.
Treadwell is a fascinating figure. The uniqueness and strangeness of his personality are what made this film work. He’d get flown out to the Alaskan wilderness every summer, convinced that he had to protect the bears from poachers who didn’t exist. He thought he was “gaining the trust” of the bears, and would get close enough to them to pet them. He’d talk to them like they were people. Others claimed that he would sometimes act like a bear, growling and rearing his back. During the rest of the year, Treadwell would travel around the country, teaching school-children about bears free of charge. He repeatedly says that he loves the bears, a claim his video footage surely substantiates.
Why? As I said, Herzog considers many possibilities, but none can provide a full picture. Is it because of his personal struggles with alcoholism? His failure to launch as an actor? Because he feels unable to fit in with civilization, opting instead to take the side of wilderness? Because he wants to feel strong, important, and significant in order to compensate for deep feelings of insecurity?
Maybe all of the above. Maybe none of the above. The ultimate inscrutability of Treadwell in spite of all the “data” he’d left behind says something profound about the human condition. If it’s not possible to truly understand Treadwell, what about our friends? Our acquaintances? Can we fully understand the reasons and motivations behind our own words, actions, and behaviors?
What should we make of Treadwell’s actions? Were they helpful or harmful? Treadwell certainly seemed to believe he was protecting the bears from poachers and educating the public. But several experts note that the incidence of poaching was low in Katmai, and also that Treadwell’s actions may have put the bears at greater risk by habituating them to human contact.
Everyone seems to have an opinion about what Treadwell did and why. But Herzog shows the difficulty of making an unambiguous moral judgment about Treadwell’s summer trips. Was Treadwell slightly delusional and paranoid about poachers? Yes. Did also teach children about bears for free? Also yes. Was he motivated purely by his love of the bears? No. Was he simply performing his love for the camera? Also no. Were Treadwell’s actions justified and justifiable?
Who knows?
In the end, this is the film’s primary question: Who knows? Treadwell’s friends and family members don’t know. Park rangers don’t know. Conservation experts don’t know. Herzog doesn’t know. We, the viewer, don’t know. Perhaps even Treadwell himself didn’t know. Perhaps it’s impossible for anyone to know.
Setting all that aside, the film’s footage was, at times, breathtaking. Treadwell was but several feet from the bears when he filmed them, and there are close-up scenes of bears drinking, hunting, and fighting that Planet Earth would kill to have access to. They’re hulking, majestic creatures, and Treadwell captures them in their full glory. He also captures the beauty of the Alaskan wilderness, and there are more than a handful of shots of pure, unadulterated nature that are exquisite.
At its core, Grizzly Man is a film about human psychology.
Those interested in human beings should be sure to check it out.