The documentary Grizzly Man features clips of Timothy Treadwell living with grizzly bears every summer in the wilderness of Alaska, of which he had done for 13 years. A creation by Werner Herzog, he interviews a number of people, including Treadwell’s ex-girlfriend, close friends, and some professionals. An expository-participatory mode of documentary, it is classified as such due to Treadwell’s delivery of his position as a bear advocate arguing that these animals need to be protected from poachers, and so he did by touring different schools, teaching children about bear conservation for free…and through some clips of his, he angrily rants against poachers and authorities; as well as the director engaging in interviews with the key people mentioned earlier, and we can also hear Herzog himself in communication with his interviewees.
Now on the subject of his advocacy concerning bears, he was a devout animal lover ever since his childhood, he had a squirrel as a pet. He was a mostly normal person until his college life where he suffered drug addiction. It was a waste of his scholarship that he got as a varsity in swimming. However, when he got to experience trekking into the rural areas of Alaska, where he encountered wild grizzly bears for the first time, he was deeply fascinated which eventually helped him through his recovery from drug addiction, pretty much why Treadwell described bears as being his “savior”. Since then, every year in the summer, he would go and visit the bears and study them. He would then develop a bond with them, even giving them names and playing with them. Until his recovery pill had become his addiction.
He could not already help himself anymore, and at a point as seen in his numerous clips he lashed out expletives against not only poachers, but authorities as well, specifically the National Park Service. He was deeply, deeply devoted to saving the bears from danger, with him quoted as saying, “I will protect these bears with my last breath.” For the record, he did have conflicts with the authorities that reprimanded him for his violations, as the park’s restrictions annoyed him. Despite those conflicts, he still continued with his expeditions. Thirteen years since his first-ever expedition with the bears in their natural habitat, ultimately and unfortunately, he got to experience what would be the first—and last—bear attack. Although there was one instance seen in his clips where the bear might have been on the verge of attacking Treadwell, we honestly don’t know for sure if it only happened once—at least he should be thankful that as a “bear whisperer” he never got badly harmed during those thirteen years.
I was actually expecting that footage of the ultimate bear attack would show up in the documentary, but no. And I think it’s just for the benefit of everyone to not actually see—or even hear—those final moments captured on camera for it must be really unsettling and traumatizing to watch—it would feel as if one were actually to witness it. Herzog, being the author of this film, bravely took the risk of retreiving all the footage recovered from the camera, including the final moments, and even by just listening to the audio recording, he warned the ex-girlfriend that she must never listen to the audio and that it be destroyed. This documentary film should serve as a stern warning that, anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Especially in nature where everything is out of human control.
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