Review of Grizzly Man (2005) by Dan S — 27 Jan 2010

After watching Grizzly Man, the personality of Timothy Treadwell really is thought provoking. Was this man really just a passionate researcher for bears or was he just mentally insane. I came to conclude that he is a little bit of both...

Timothy Treadwell became a bear enthusiast after he got turned down the role as a bartender in the hit TV show Cheers (The role was won by Woody Haralson which jump-started his career). Angry and confused, Treadwell turned to studying bears. His passion for the bears was unbelievable. He began taking low paying jobs just to be around bears or even just talk about them. For 13 summers, Tim went to Alaska to live with the bears. He brought no one with most times so his best friends were the animals. On the 13th year (Unlucky number 13...), Treadwell brought his girlfriend (who is scared of bears) to Alaska with him to study the bears. But tragedy strikes and the bear attacks Treadwell and his girlfriend.

This documentary by Werner Herzog is one of the most interesting movies I have seen in a long time. Herzog interviews many people such as Treadwell's old girlfriend, Treadwell's parents, people who had to clean up the dead bodies and etc. Each one had their own opinion on Treadwell, some saying he lived with a passion for bears and he would be fine dying for one and some said that he was crazy and it was his fault his girlfriend died and some even saying that he had it coming. I think all of those opinions are valid. He wouldn?t be walking with grizzly bears unless he knew there was a chance a bear could kill him any second. His words and passion for these bears are spoken so loud in this film, that I believe he likes bears better than humans. Although they don?t play the audio of their death (The camera lens was on during the attack), Herzog listens to it and takes off his headphones after only a few seconds. He describes it as one of the most disturbing things he has ever heard?AND HE?S GERMAN!!! (JK? Ich liebe Deutschland!).

After watching this film, I believe this film is beautifully made. It shows Treadwell on his good days and Treadwell on his bad days. Like every human, he wants people to listen to him and understand him. As crazy as he is, he had a passion. This Lunatic died to soon but died doing what he loves.

R.I.P. Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard, love was their only killer...