GRIZZLY MAN

Name: GRIZZLY MAN
Item: GRIZZLY MAN
Author: Review

“Tempting Death in the Wild”

Family Content: -2 Extreme caution for older teenagers and adults.

Entertainment Quality:

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Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

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What You Need To Know:

In GRIZZLY MAN, German director Werner Herzog takes a look at the life of Timothy Treadwell, a crazed environmentalist who 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 fascinating 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.

At times, Herzog’s documentary questions the environmentalist views of Treadwell, but in the end, it succumbs to Treadwell’s naïve views of grizzly bears. 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 simultaneously. In the documentary, Herzog seems to have a strong humanist worldview. At one point, he 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 addition to its humanism and environmentalism, GRIZZLY MAN also contains plenty of strong foul language.

Content:

(HH, EEE, Pa, ACapACap, LLL, VV, N, M) Strong humanist worldview with ultimately very strong pro-environmentalist perspective about nature and grizzly bears, with pagan element where man desperately prays to whatever god is out there, including Jesus, Buddha and Allah, when a drought strikes, and strong anti-capitalist elements; 46 mostly strong obscenities, two strong profanities, two light profanities, man blasphemes Jesus, and man touches bear manure; two male bears fight and wrestle, talk of bear attack and talk of finding human remains from bear attack; no sex; upper male nudity in one scene; no alcohol or smoking; and, uncontrolled anger and misanthropic attitudes.

More Detail:

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.