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Reader comments on Grizzly Man
Subject: Re: Herzog undecided
Date: May 14, 2006
sounds like you just wanted Herzog to have an agenda about Treadwell, that you just wanted him to portray the message of love; but Treadwell was so disturbed, and didn't seem capable of love of anything or anyone...the footage was all of HIM!!! he was always standing in front of the bears, bragging how he was a warrior and a protector and criticizing people who had actual expertise about bears and wildlife, Treadwell was a sad case who knew little about ecology, biology, or even behavior of bears...he constantly focused on himself and his misguided delusion that he was helping bears. How could Herzog ignore that reality and just push Treadwell as a sweet, loving environmentalist who only wanted to help the bears? That is a fiction, and Herzog made a documentary.
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Response to this comment:
Herzog undecided
With over 100 hours of film footage, you think they could have made a fairly interesting movie with this admittedly quirky guy.
However, America's fascination with death takes over in the beginning and we get views that say he Treadwell was "mentally retarded", interview a distraught girlfriend, the coroner. This does not make for very pleasant or even interesting viewing, and is the type of thing one might choose NOT to watch.
The real message is that a man chose to live his life in a way that would chill most of us - but he did so with full cognizance of the risks and rewards and proceeded anyway, content in his choice.
The narrator, who sounds suspiciously like Arnold Schwarzennegger (though of course it's Werner Herzog, once you think this, it's distracting), pays both Timothy and the movie a disservice as his commentary becomes increasingly opinionated, and further distracting.
Werner, by the way, is all over the place in his commentary - like he can't reconcile his views of the man, his life, or even his own film, the documentary itself. It seems like a rough draft.
All of the intimately personal moments Treadwell records - well, I don't mind them so much, I think everyone ought to do that sort of thing - express oneself, let it all out, do some soul-searching. But then that should be it - I'm just saying that sort of material just doesn't make for the best story and ultimately detracts from the documentary. A little bit - fine - give us the flavor of the man. But just a little. It's just not particularly entertaining. Plus, little editing was done.
If you want to honor a man's life, why not show more of the footage of the bears, the foxes, the gorgeous landscape - the very things Treadwell describes as compelling him to this landscape, these risks, this way of life. This is what would make him happy - to have his message conveyed. Isn't the flick "in honor of"?
I'm not necessarily for the message by the way - Treadwell might have been doing more of a personal journey than anything for the bears. The point was made in the film that getting bears used to people might be a bad thing - particularly for the bears, when not all people who might travel the wilderness want to cuddle, and some might be, well, armed.
But why else make a movie about the subject! You have to make the subject compelling and possibly even take a tack that honors their purpose, a favorable eye. But even if it's a critical eye, Werner can't decide.
I think the filmmakers simply found themselves with a lot of footage, a lot of content. The commentary seems to be sidelong and undecided, even talking out of one-side of their mouths about the subject at any given moment. Directionless.
Werner talks about dispassionate nature and how he views the world as murderous. And then produces the footage to make Treadwell out to be a loon instead of focusing on a film an audience would appreciate watching - the core message of Treadwell's unusual existence. Whether you agree or not, or want to sleep with bears, the man spoke of Love.
I would have been more pleased if they had tried to write a story that expressed more of what this man was all about, his care of nature, the bridge of nature he had obviously crossed as so few have and, by his own testimony, successfully. He did what he wanted to do, which is more than many.
What footage they do show is both touching and satisfying, with glimpses of nature seldom seen. Really a neat approach to one man's life, with an intimate portrait of bears of foxes and man's relaionship to them.
If they felt they needed to temper it, because of the precautionary fear that viewers will suddenly pack up and drive to the Alaskan wilderness and expose themselves to grizzlies, then a little sobering reality about his own death was fine, enough to make me stay away. But not such morbid fascination, lurid in its detail; instead a greater telling and, here's the bit, actually fits with the story.
Then everybody laments the death of the girl. Of course it's a tragedy and I don't belittle it, and maybe she just went for an outing in Alaska. But I am hesitant to believe that she didn't have a good idea of who Timothy was - he was so forcefully honest about his passion, or that she didn't know that she was in Alaska, one, with grizzlies, two. Despite the loss, I think she was taking a calculated risk in a touchy situation and was at least somewhat aware of the dangers - even though she didn't have the deathwish/found purpose of Treadwell. Doesn't make it less sad, but when done with consciousness there is choice.
In conclusion, I think this movie had some beautiful moments and rare footage. I think it presented an odd lifestyle choice, and is thought-provoking because of it. But I think in the end it ultimately fails to stand up as a film or documentary, and it would have been interesting to see the other film made - the one I think I wanted to see, or to just watch highligh
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Comment index:
sad from michael, Feb 6, 2006
grizzly from Paulina Jick, Feb 16, 2006
HEY from Paulina jick, Feb 2, 2008
» Re: Herzog undecided « from a claire, May 14, 2006
timy from jayro, Mar 5, 2006
idk from idk, Feb 5, 2007
idk from idk, Feb 8, 2007
sad from michael, Feb 6, 2006
grizzly from Paulina Jick, Feb 16, 2006
HEY from Paulina jick, Feb 2, 2008
» Re: Herzog undecided « from a claire, May 14, 2006
timy from jayro, Mar 5, 2006
idk from idk, Feb 5, 2007
idk from idk, Feb 8, 2007
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