Timothy Treadwell spent thirteen summers living with wild bears in Alaska’s Katmai National Park. In the autumn of 2003 a bear killed him and his girlfriend.This documentary was made by Werner Herzog from over 90 hours of video that Treadwell shot during his time in the wild and from interviews with people who knew him. It contains some stunning shots, such as a vicious but beautiful fight between two large male bears over a female, and is fascinating to watch. The situation it depicts is also more complex than first impressions would suggest; we listen to the helicopter pilot who retrieved Treadwell’s body: “He was treating them like people in bear costumes. He got what he deserved. The tragedy of it is that he took the girl with him”. In mad, rambling speeches, Treadwell talks of his determination to “protect” the bears when they were actually safe enough in the National Park.
Grizzly Man is the perfect topic for Herzog – the story of an obsessed mad-man, alone with nature, in the wilderness. Treadwell actually becomes rather annoying and some of the best bits of the film are from Herzog himself who offers his own thoughts on film-making, the nature of the film image, and nature itself. He narrates over the soundtrack in his awesome and unforgettable German accent: “I believe the common character of the universe is not harmony, but hostility, chaos and murder.”
