GRIZZLY MAN

In GRIZZLY MAN, German director Werner Herzog takes a look at the life of Timothy Treadwell, a crazed environmentalist who recently was mauled to death by one of the grizzly bears he annually visited in the wild. In telling this story, Herzog relies considerably on Treadwell’s own video footage of the bears and himself. Interviews with people who knew Treadwell, including his parents and an ex-girlfriend who worked for him, fill out the portrait. The portrait reveals an angry man living on the edge, but a man who loved the wild animals he filmed, even though he had little formal training as a natural scientist.

At times, Herzog’s documentary questions the radical environmentalist views of Treadwell, but in the end, it succumbs to Treadwell’s naïve environmentalist views of grizzly bears, one of the most dangerous animals on earth. The movie does reveal Treadwell’s hatred for human beings. In fact, one gets the feeling that Treadwell would save the life of a grizzly bear rather than the life of a stranger if both were drowning at the same time.

In the documentary, Herzog seems to have a strong humanist worldview. At one point, Herzog even expresses regret that, when a drought threatens the bears, Treadwell prays to every god and historical religious figure he can think of to bring rain. And, rain does indeed come.

In another scene, Treadwell angrily and crudely denounces all those who don’t share his views, including the U.S. Park Service, which he claims does little to protect the grizzly bears. The movie never produces any evidence to support this claim about the Park Service. Even so, Treadwell’s footage of the bears and foxes living near his camp in grizzly country is fascinating.

In addition to its humanism and environmentalism, GRIZZLY MAN also contains plenty of strong foul language.