Some Gristle to Whet your Whistle

Grizzly Man Subject: Timothy Treadwell, Grizzly Bears Director: Werner Herzog Rating: !! Where you Can Find It: Westgate Art Cinema

“I found that beyond a wildlife film, in Timothy Treadwell’s material lay dormant a story of astonishing beauty and depth. I discovered a film of human ecstasies and darkest inner turmoil.” – From Werner Herzog’s narration in GRIZZLY MAN

From 1990-2003, Timothy Treadwell spent his life with grizzly bears, both physically and spiritually. As an activist, Treadwell founded Grizzly People, an organization concerning itself with the welfare of the brooding animals. Following the bears through the Canadian outback each summer, Treadwell believed that he had learned to think like a bear, to communicate like a bear, and truly wished to become a bear. In the last five of years of his life, Werner Herzog gifted him a video camera, so that he could properly document his findings. After Treadwell’s death in 2003, Herzog reconstructed the tapes of those summers, crafting a wonderful character study of the troubled man. Treadwell had hoped that the footage would be used to show the problems that grizzly bears face--namely human encroachment, starvation, and poaching. Instead, Herzog shows us the inner workings of a conflicted man sitting outside the circle of human civilization. The quote above, taken from the website for the film Grizzly Man, sums up perfectly almost every character that Werner Herzog has chosen to focus on in his prolific career as a filmmaker. And perhaps it is his fascination with these fringe elements that gives us our greatest insight into the artist himself. After all, who is Werner Herzog? Born in 1942, Werner Herzog grew up in a remote village outside Munich, Germany. It is widely known that he grew up without day-to-day technology. He made his first phone call at the age of 17 and his first film at the age of 19 (Herakles). Since then he has made around 50 films, and has directed more than a dozen operas. He is a writer of prose and a philosopher of the highest order. He is also widely recognized as one of the greatest film directors of all time. Beyond that, we know that he is an eccentric who likes to work with difficult themes, difficult settings, difficult actors. Klaus Kinski is the most famous of these examples. Together, Herzog and Kinski made films for 15 years. They met as children, co-habitators of the same Munich apartment building. Though they only lived together for a few months, Kinski astounded Herzog because, as he put it, “…in the first 48 hours that I stayed there, he laid waste to the bathroom that everybody used by smashing everything up systematically into smithereens” (The Onion, June 11, 2003). This was Kinski’s style. And as Herzog’s latest release shows us, it was similar to the style of Timothy Treadwell. The self-destruction and anger that accompanies tortured souls has been caricatured countless times in literature and film. To see it in documentary form--as it is presented in Grizzly Man--gives one the most powerful and accurate representation of the life and mind of a true eccentric. Treadwell is that representation, from the first frame to last. Through his commentary on the bears and his constant mugging for the camera, Timothy fancies himself the savior of the grizzlies, speaking often of his ‘love’ for them. But Herzog forces the audience to question if Treadwell’s motives are truly altruistic. As the protagonist rants soliloquies to the camera about the “f----ing f---s who f---ing f--- the f---ing people who try to save these f---s” (paraphrasing), we begin to see more clearly the mental state of our unbalanced friend. Treadwell’s strange life and even stranger personality is certainly worthy of the 100 minutes of film devoted to him. Together, the montage of gorgeous Alaska scenery and cinema bearité makes for an easy sit, as far as documentaries are concerned. And though Herzog interjects an opinion or two about nature’s cruelty, he functions well in his role as story teller. Unlike Michael Moore, who guides the moral approach to the film from his own perspective, Herzog allows the audience to decide for itself if Timothy’s work is indeed good or bad. Herzog seems to weigh in by letting Timothy’s on-screen insanity shine for itself. As is true with grizzlies, though, what you think will not influence the outcome of Treadwell’s decision. Like a bear locked in the heat of battle, Timothy Treadwell lived and died a Grizzly Man.

Henceforth begin the spoilers (only read if you have seen the movie or don’t mind spoiling it for yourself).

In all of his attempts to help the grizzlies, Treadwell shows us one form of activism that has become all too prevalent in recent years: egoism. Rather than focusing his efforts on actually helping the animals (by perhaps raising funds to support better surveillance of the bears), he seems more at home standing next to them with a camera. And when, in one incident, the bears are agitated by private tour-guides, Timothy finds his rightful place hiding in the bushes and videotaping the event. After several takes in the wild thickets of Alaska wherein Timothy repeats that he is indeed alone among the bears, Herzog shares with us the truth of Timothy Treadwell. He has been living together with his girlfriend Aime. Additionally, he receives help from his friends in the form of rations. And then there is the case of his multiple takes. Treadwell seems compelled to repeat his message, over and over, until he gets it perfect. After his death, Herzog must have had countless hours of irritation with Tim’s self-congratulating speeches. But, then, Herzog also had the power to stop Treadwell from being martyred by a ridiculous bear-activism group. And it is Herzog who takes the limelight away, using his power as filmmaker to keep buried the sounds of Timothy’s death. On location, with camera in tow, Timothy and Amie were savagely killed and eaten by a large animal (I won’t say what kind of animal, but careful readers should be able to deduce from the clues given above). It is Herzog’s choice not to let us hear the grizzly (hah!) incident. Instead, we must assume from the reactions of a coroner, as well as Herzog himself, that what occurred was truly horrific. On imdb message boards, there has been discussion regarding hearing the tapes. The general consensus is that hearing the tapes would show how truly stupid Treadwell’s actions were. I do not agree that we need to hear the screams of two people being eaten to come to the conclusion that what they were doing was dumb. One only needs to hear the comments of the Aleut at the Grizzly Bear Museum on Kodiak Island. Having lived side-by-side with the bears for centuries, the Aleuts have a very sensible philosophy towards the furry ones. Stay away from them, and keep them away from you. Because Timothy did not follow this simple rule, the Aleuts consider his actions to be disrespectful. While it might be difficult to interpret what the bears think of his time among them, it is certain that he was acting without proper skills or training.

And then he died, not surprisingly, at the hands of a bear.

Discussion Question: Should Werner have included the tape of their death? Why or why not?