The Grizzly Man

[GforGroove]

So the new documentary of Werner Herzog will BLOW YOUR MIND!
I saw it 4 days ago and im still thinking in the middle of nowhere about this film.

Just in short as recommendation:
Timothy Threadwell is a man that one day decides to go to Alaska to save the grizzly bears. He got to close them, so close that one day, a bear eat him. (don't worry not a spolier at all)... The documentary tries to portrait Timothy during his 13 summers around the Grizzly bears and while that it takes you to the limit of human nature..trough crazy testimonial videos and archive footage shoot by Treadwell himself. The relation with the animals is so raw after all, just like that, no love, trust, loyalty.. just human nature and it's sooo hard to understand it. But is simple and in my case, it shoked me over and over!

Anyone seen this? I can't wait to hear other points of views about Threadwell.

So great to Herzong doing this kind of documentaries and still having that raw flare about life..

[GreenPea]

I can't wait to see it as you know. One of my favorite filmakers covering one of my favorite topics! But is not playing anywehre around here, and most likely never will, so wait for it to come on video or to play in Discovery Channel.

I was reading this review earlier that made me want to see it even more:

"It is the rare documentary like Grizzly Man, which has beauty and passion often lacking in any type of film, that makes you want to grab its maker and head off to the nearest bar to discuss man's domination of nature and how Disney's cute critters reflect our profound alienation from the natural order"

[b.miller]

this is an awesome awesome movie.

Herzog does a really great job with this in telling a story with footage he didn't shoot. Really top-notch work, and I love his voice doing the narration, saying such esoteric things on top of really hilarious-yet-sad images. full notes HERE

It's really not so much a nature documentary as a portrait of this really interesting guy that manages to draw all sorts of emotions out of you.



Herzog's newest one though, The Wild Blue Yonder, is like the complete opposite of Grizzly Man. Very out there and abstract, using documentary footage to tell a fictional science fiction fantasy story.

based on these two, with the hilarious absurdity of Incident at Loch Ness, I'm really interested to see Herzog's previous two documentary/features: The White Diamond and Wheel of Time

[GforGroove]

Originally Posted by b.miller

It's really not so much a nature documentary as a portrait of this really interesting guy that manages to draw all sorts of emotions out of you.

yeah, i didnt mean to say that was a film about the nature of animals of the relation with this guy... just that for me the realtion with the animals and his "teddy bear" attitude triggers the story
yeah is more a doc of a tortured soul


The voice over of Herzog is great isn't it?!!!!!

hey brian.. how you got that movie journal , man i want one of those!!

*SPOILERS*
So ok.. back to Grizzly Man..

the most crazy feeling is that i never felt honest Treadwell.. not for a second what you think? for me was like.. ok this guy here making this drama but all that he is waiting is to be shown in Animal Planet!! No kidding.. i never felt like "oh he want to save the bears"..

[b.miller]

Originally Posted by GforGroove

yeah, i didnt mean to say that was a film about the nature of animals of the relation with this guy... just that for me the relation with the animals and his "teddy bear" attitude triggers the story
yeah is more a doc of a tortured soul

yeah i really didn't mean for that to read like i was disagreeing with you or anything... i just said it because I personally went in expecting to see much more of a nature type thing... so it was a surprise for me to find that the subject was really the guy... i guess that's why it's called Grizzly Man and not just Grizzly huh (me = slow sometimes)


my movie journal: i wrote it. Peter Bogdanovich did the same thing for 17 years but he used index cards.... him = crazy. If you want me to set one up for you, it wouldn't be too tough.

SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT
I was constantly shifting back and forth between laughing at Timothy and feeling really sad for him. Toward the end when it reveals some of his past habits, Herzog really paints in this guy's character and why he did what he did. Ultimately, he's protecting bears in an already protected spot of land with hopes of becoming some real bear saviour and documenting it all for Animal Planet. I think we never really get a true moment with him because he's always playing to his camera in his own little world. If anything, i think the scene where he gets caught up in cursing all the people who's stood in his way was the closest we get, and that's also the scene where it really shows his mental illness.

What I loved about Herzog's interviews as well though, was that each person gave a really "fake" sounding interview, you know what i mean? it sounded really staged and like they had thought out exactly what they were going to say beforehand... but then Herzog left the camera rolling like a few seconds too long each time, so you see each person finish up their story and look at herzog like "now's when you say cut, right?" but the camera keeps rolling long enough to give us a glimpse of them with their guard down. I think that's the same way Timothy is presented to us... he's always "on" but you get just the tiniest glimpses of the real him...

but yeah, mainly i think Timothy had some mental unbalance and sort of made up this grand mission that would comfort him, and although it ultimately got him killed, he was pretty happy for 13 summers it looks like...

[Professor]

there's that really intense moment that you think you are going to here "the tape"
it's really quite disturbing. i thought it was an amazing doc....one of my favorites. certainly more bizarre and interesting and disturbing than the penuin walking.