Austinist Movie Review: Grizzly Man

The Treadwell captured by Treadwell is manic and flamboyant. A grizzly approaches, seemingly ready to snap, and he yells "no, bad bear. Go back!" A second later he says, "I love you." He is all high energy and soft spoken banter. With his white blond hair cut into a page boy, he seems to have cast himself as the Prince Valiant leading man. Sometimes he does second takes on supposedly "natural" moments. He says he's not gay. There's a whole soliloquy about why he wishes he was, but imagine the Fab 5's Carson out in the Alaskan Wilderness begging "jesus boy" for some rain, and you'll get some idea of the character that is Timothy Treadwell.

In other's hands, Treadwell's story might have been an homage to a hero of the wilderness, an animal lover, ecologist, and teacher, but in Herzog's hands it has become art. It is a dissection of a man who thinks he's a boy, a failed actor who believes his birthright is to protect and "save" the grizzlies from MAN, a narcissisist who is loved by many, but known by few. The film asks: who is Timothy Treadwell and what kind of idiot lives among grizzly bears? That's a big question. Who is Treadwell? According to Herzog he is a filmmaker, an actor, pretty much crazy, very angry, silly, delusional, a liar, a good friend, a bad boyfriend, poor, and depressed.

Herzog tells us he knows something about madness (ya think?). His view of Treadwell is of a man consumed with a desire to be something he can never be. His journey comes with a price: sanity. The grizzlies Treadwell spends his life defending aren't actually threatened, but carefully protected. Of course he loves these animals, but his methods are certainly questionable. An Inuit museum curator tells us his people have learned to respect the bears space, not intrude on it. Perhaps Treadwell's method of befriending them hurts them more than helps them. A bear used to humans is a bear that doesn't fear them as much as he proably should.

On top of this is Treadwell's increasing hostility towards Alaska's Parks and Wildlife Department, and beyond that, mankind in general. Caught on tape is a long and angry rant against those that Treadwell feels are against him. Herzog smartly narrates over this piece of footage, showing us the anger while telling us of reality. Treadwell made himself more important than he really was and his anger and self-disgust lead to his gruesome demise.

It becomes clear to the audience that this man didn't have to die. And we wonder, too, if some part of him wanted to. After all, he decided to go back to the wilderness--the most dangerous part, called the Grizzly Maze--later in the year than he'd ever been before. Late enough that all his regular Grizzly "friends" were hibernating. Unfamiliar bears had moved in and they were hungry. He camped in the most dangerous spot, by his own admittance. Everything was against him (and his girlfriend who reluctantly accompanied him despite her fear of the bears) and he shouldn't have been there. Treadwell had convinced himself that he was untouchable. That he was the "kind warrior" who knew how to survive and play the game. Herzog points out that even a bear isn't safe around bears, especially the hungry ones. Given Treadwell's passion, a passion that could have taken him on journeys that would have exposed the plight of truly endangered animals throughout the world--it feels like such a waste.