Ready to Rent Ready to Rent (January 13, 2006)

Grizzly Man

Lions Gate Home Video DVD

1hr 44mins

Director: Werner Herzog @videotext: Director Werner Herzog's fascinating documentary, "Grizzly Man," chronicles the rise--and fall--of Tim Treadwell, a man who puts aside scientific common sense in favor of greater spiritual fulfillment. It is in Treadwell, the grandstanding, self-appointed protector of the Alaskan bear population, that Herzog finally finds his loony, spiritual match.

Treadwell's story is almost a tragi-comedy of sorts. He was the product of a boorish middle class upbringing, got into drugs as a teenager, moved to LA, bottomed out and eventually had it in his head to travel every summer up to the Alaskan Tundra in order to play as savior to the bear population. On his travels he brought a video camera and recorded thousands of hours of footage, some of it the bears in their natural state, most of it his own rambling confessionals, which are the most affecting part of this film. It is Treadwell himself who is so fascinating to watch because he is both repellant and magnetic. He's repellant in that he is a horrible egotist--a fool who plays messiah for his own sake and loves to remind the camera of his mission at every moment, but equally magnetic because of his dedication to the bears, and his need to educate (he made appearances at schools and on talk shows).

What Herzog finds arresting about Treadwell is his need to live in his monkish summer existence among the animals and the footage that was captured in the process. Treadwell records himself stripping matter-of-factly and bathing with a grizzly in a crystal pool; a family of foxes as they scurry across the landscape; a very funny and telling scene where a fox steals his favorite hat and he chases it through the brush emitting a stream of expletives; and two enormous bears wrestling for dominance, for what seems like an eternity, which acts as a dual metaphor for Treadwell's life and ultimate demise.

Herzog devotes the last third of the film to Treadwell's death and skirts the line between exploitation and genuine closure. Treadwell, along with his girlfriend Amie Huguenard, were mauled by a bear and the gory events, as told by the coroner, are horrific. The film ends, however, on a mock upbeat note where the celebration of Treadwell's friends as they scatter his ashes seems both staged and genuine, like Treadwell himself.

Director Herzog's films typically explore the spiritual misadventures of his subjects. It is in Treadwell's story that we have a subject who's a blend of Herzog's favorite conflicting character traits: serenity vs. chaos. Joe Ramirez

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