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Film review

Fatal attraction

Werner Herzog's amazing documentary Grizzly Man chronicles one man's costly obsession with Alaska's bears.

By STEVE PERSALL
Published September 29, 2005

[Photo: Lions Gate Films]

Timothy Treadwell lived among Alaska’s bears for 13 summers. He saw himself as their protector.

"If I show weakness, they'll kill me. I can smell death all over my fingers," Timothy Treadwell says at the outset of Werner Herzog's extraordinary documentary, unaware of how prophetic he would sound.

Two years ago, Treadwell and a companion, Amie Huguenard, were mauled and mostly eaten by one of the Alaskan grizzly bears he considered as family. Which bear doesn't matter, and the motive is primordially obvious.

The mystery propelling Grizzly Man is why Treadwell gladly placed himself in a situation so unavoidably fatal, and why whatever he learned during 13 summers living among grizzlies didn't save him. It boils down to a persona the likes of which moviegoers haven't seen, revealed by Treadwell's own video footage, expertly blended by Herzog with postmortem interviews.

Treadwell was apparently the man-child who would be king, and Alaska's isolation provided a realm without contest with wildlife as his subjects. He didn't look the part: A sun-bleached Prince Valiant haircut and scrawny build make him appear more surfer than savior. But watch his eyes, hear his pleading and you'll see a stern devotion to wildlife. You'll also get to know a deceptive side; he wasn't as lonely as his videos were set up to portray. And everything is drenched with dread.

Herzog begins with Treadwell's video proclamations of being a "kind warrior" protecting bears, giving each names and recognizing their moods and personalities. The footage is amazing, closer to danger than Steve Irwin and Jim Fowler would ever recommend. Even a renowned filmmaker such as Herzog marvels at the "inexplicable magic of cinema" that Treadwell gathered so spontaneously. Then we see an amazing example: an encounter with foxes that a pro filmmaker couldn't frame or wrangle as perfectly.

We become as engrossed in the interspecies relationships as Treadwell must have become. Then Herzog shifts to a coroner's dramatic speculation of how Treadwell and Huguenard died, and we get the reality check that perhaps they missed until it was too late. Grizzly Man continually surprises with such contrasts, sometimes hilariously; Treadwell could occasionally be mistaken for Andy Dick doing a Greenpeace spoof.

And sometimes the surprises are tragic hindsight blended with spirituality. Not religion, since Treadwell wasn't a religious person (his rant against all gods during a drought is a highlight), but something karmic. Treadwell's camera was usually running, even during the fatal mauling. But that's the only time he gets caught with the lens cap on, leaving only the audio portion of his and Huguenard's deaths.

The tape was given to Treadwell's former girlfriend, who allows Herzog to listen. She has never listened to it, and says she never will. But we watch her face as she watches Herzog listen through headphones and it's devastating cinema. We only see him in semiprofile but we know he's shattered by the sounds; our eyes into Treadwell's world can't avoid filling with tears. We never hear the tape, but Herzog's cut to two bears fighting, fur flying and claws ripping, hints at details. That is Treadwell's footage. He should've known better.

Grizzly Man goes deeper into Treadwell's past with a visit to his relatively normal parents in Florida, and friends describing a carefree soul evolving into recklessness. One flatly declares he "got what he deserved." Herzog gives Treadwell the same, a marvelous eulogy for a life teetering between sensitivity and madness, each trait feeding on the other to the very end.

Grade: A

Director: Werner Herzog

Cast: Timothy Treadwell, Amie Huguenard, voice of Werner Herzog

Screenplay: Werner Herzog

Rating: R; harsh profanity, grisly images

Running time: 103 min.

[Last modified September 28, 2005, 10:06:07]