November 8, 2005 -- “Grizzly Man” is the haunting tale of Timothy Treadwell, an actor with emotional demons who fled to the Alaskan wilderness and became an environmental activist. This documentary, directed and narrated by renowned German director Werner Herzog, is comprised of videos taken by Treadwell himself, along with interviews with his family and friends and some location shots. Treadwell is an interesting character, but he probably would not have rated a movie if he hadn't been killed and eaten by one of the bears he thought he was protecting. Treadwell was, in the immortal words of a Gary Larson-drawn comic strip psychiatrist, “just plain nuts.” Despite that, or maybe because of it, Treadwell captured some amazing video footage of wildlife and scenery. His on-camera rantings and ravings are pretty entertaining, too.

Treadwell spent 13 summers living amongst bears in the wilds of Alaska. During the last five years, he videotaped himself, his surroundings and wildlife, apparently working on a wildlife movie he was planning to cut together someday. Treadwell treated the Alaskan wilderness as if it were a rustic petting zoo. He made friends with some foxes and tried to befriend the bears as well. He got close enough to some curious bear cubs that he was able to reach out and touch them. Treadwell believed he was protecting the bears by living amongst them in the Katmai National Park and Reserve every summer, but there is no evidence in the film that he was protecting anything. He was just hanging around, talking to the animals and to his camcorder. In one scene we see Treadwell stalking some tourists from afar. The tourists are throwing rocks at one of the bears to keep it away and are taking pictures of it. Treadwell is upset at the actions of the tourists, but does not approach them. Some protection. Some who knew Treadwell said his presence among the bears actually harmed them by habituating them to humans. This could be the very reason that the bear was approaching the photographers and why they chased the bear away with rocks.

Part of Treadwell's reticence at approaching other wilderness visitors is that he had run afoul of National Park Service regulations by camping too long in one spot. He hid from government patrol planes and camouflaged his camp. This behavior led to his demise. Camping in the open is safer than camping in heavy brush. He chose the riskier path. A number of people are interviewed for the film. Most are family and friends of Treadwell, but some are not. One plain-spoken man said that Treadwell got what he deserved and that the only tragedy is that Treadwell's friend, Amie Huguenard, was also killed by the bear, apparently trying to protect Treadwell. Huguenard seldom appears in Treadwell's videos, but she spent some time in Alaska with him.

Yet another of Treadwell's friends, Jewel Palovak, remembers Treadwell affectionately in the movie. She and Treadwell were co-founders of Grizzly People, a non-profit corporation dedicated to the great bears. Palovak also co-authored a book with Treadwell, “Among Grizzlies.” Some of Treadwell's footage had also been used in a Discovery television special, “The Grizzly Diaries.” Treadwell had also appeared on national television talk shows and spoke to thousands of school children about bears. Palovak, a colorful character in her own right, tells a very funny story about how she first met Treadwell in a restaurant. She waxes poetic about Treadwell's courage and dedication to the bears. Others who knew Treadwell also spoke affectionately of him, but several also noted Treadwell had a dark side.

In one scene in the movie we can see Treadwell's dark side clearly as he rants and raves in a self-made video about how he feels he has been persecuted by the National Park Service. He swears at the park service over and over again, yelling obscenities very loudly. One friend of Treadwell's acknowledged that Treadwell often lied about his past, sometimes pretending to be from Australia. That man said Treadwell's behavior didn't bother him. “There's an old saying down on the farm,” said the man, “If it doesn't scare the animals,” what's the harm? A Native American interviewed for the movie summed up Treadwell's behavior this way. He said the native peoples leave the bears alone and the bears leave the natives alone. Each has his own space, his own domain. Treadwell crossed the line and tried to become a bear. It is not only dangerous to cross that line, it is wrong, according to the beliefs of the Native Americans. Others have another name for Treadwell's attitude, hubris. Maybe Treadwell didn't scare the animals, but he may have annoyed the bears, and that may have led to his demise.

Herzog puts himself into the film, both literally and figuratively. He appears on camera, listening to an audio recording of Treadwell and Amie Huguenard's agonizing deaths in a bear attack. Herzog advises Jewel Palovak to destroy the tape. It is never heard in the movie. The tape was made by a video camera that was running at the time of the fatal bear attack. The lens cap was on the camera, but it recorded the sound of the attack. Herzog states his own opinion about Treadwell. Herzog said Treadwell failed to see the dark side of nature, filled with chaos and utter indifference to the plight of man. Treadwell thought nature was full of harmony and balance and that he was part of it. Nonsense, Herzog argues. Nature is chaos. There is no kindness to be found in the eyes of a bear, Herzog argues in a voice-over as we look a bear in the eyes. Perhaps in Treadwell, Herzog sees a reflection of the mad conquistador he captured in his renowned film “Aguirre The Wrath of God.”

While the eyes of the bear do, indeed, look indifferent, there is no doubt about the friendliness of those foxes. They seem just like friendly dogs around Treadwell. He plays with them, pets them and they follow him around. It is easy to see how the first dogs were domesticated. Cats are another matter. There is a kind of harmony and balance in nature, despite what Herzog says. Part of that balance is that which exists between prey and predator. Primitive people believe that when they hunt, the prey they kill willingly sacrifices itself for them. Indeed, sometimes wildlife being killed by large predators do seem to give themselves up. Treadwell grieves for every animal that is killed by another, and even grieves for a bumblebee that dies a natural death in the film. He is reluctant to admit that grizzles sometimes kill their own kind. He is distraught over the death of a young fox. Treadwell failed to understand his own place in the scheme of things, as prey.

The beliefs of many in the environmental movement are perplexing. Most of these beliefs are borne out of a romantic view of nature. Herzog does not share this view. He seems to view both nature and civilization through the same dark glasses. Both are threatening. I can't help but wonder, if Herzog's peculiar view of nature is simply a manifestation of the annoying pessimism which infects the thinking of many artists. Some environmentalists seem to view nature as a perfect system, with one exception, modern civilization. It it were not for man, everything would be perfect in nature. It is mankind's overpopulation, the resulting destruction of habitat, carbon dioxide and ozone-eating chemical loading which is causing global warming and the destruction of the ozone layer. Human influences are causing one of the greatest mass extinctions this planet has ever seen. In this view, Treadwell and Huguenard became one with nature, for a short time, anyway. Their deaths were a positive step toward a healthier ecosystem, according to this “deep ecology” view. Now, if the other six billion people in the world died, everything would be just perfect. Well, except for us.

There is yet another angle on Treadwell. Before going to Alaska, Treadwell was chemically dependent. He abused alcohol and drugs. He also apparently suffered from a bipolar disorder. In the wilderness, among the bears, Treadwell found healing and relief from his inner demons. Maybe the bears kept Treadwell alive for years longer than he might have lived had he not gone to Alaska. Many people have experienced the healing power of the wilderness. Treadwell certainly seems at home in the wilderness in the videos he took. The only time he seemed upset at nature itself was when one of the foxes stole his hat. In short, Treadwell was an interesting fellow, mainly because he was as nutty as a fruitcake. Often, crazy people are far more interesting than the sane. This film rates a B.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in video and/or DVD format, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 2005 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail at .