Film questions man's life amid wildlife
No secrets here. We learn at the beginning of the documentary "Grizzly Man" that Timothy Treadwell and his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, were killed by a grizzly bear in the fall of 2003.
They are the only people to have lost their lives in such a manner in Alaska's Katmai National Park and Reserve, whose administrators Treadwell railed against on camera.
So who were these bear victims, and why do they invite our attentionâ¢
We never do learn much about the barely glimpsed Huguenard, who feared bears but who accompanied Treadwell on the last two of his 13 annual July-September camp-outs in the reserve. For her, the trips apparently were about him.
And for himâ¢
"Grizzly Man," which runs less than two hours, was culled from about 100 hours of video footage shot by and of Treadwell (1957-2003). The film is laced with new interviews with people commenting about Treadwell's dedication and eccentricity.
The film was directed and narrated by Germany's Werner Herzog, whose best-known films, including "Fitzcarraldo" and "Aguirre, the Wrath of God," are laborious accounts -- some factual, some fictitious -- of odd ducks and manic dreamers, madmen who arguably jousted with windmills.
Treadwell wasn't mad, but he often was angry, and filmed himself in a spectrum of moods.
At his most animated, he could seem like "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin, showing off as though for a particularly young audience.
But there was something else going on in Treadwell's soul that Herzog scratches to uncover.
A native of Long Island, Treadwell often passed himself off as an Australian. When he was trying to start a career as an actor, he came close, he said, to winning the role of bartender Woody Boyd on "Cheers," but Woody Harrelson got the part.
Treadwell did drugs, became an alcoholic, sobered, founded Grizzly People and launched his ritualistic wilderness trips.
Unlike the cheerful exhibitionist Irwin, however, whose wrestling with gators and handling of snakes smacks of good-natured bonding and showing who is boss, Treadwell flirted with bears on a higher and more perilous level.
He imposed on them, verbally and by his movements, a closeness to which they seemed indifferent. He presents himself as a Dr. Dolittle figure, craving an acceptance by them, as though he were aspiring to membership in a purer and more powerful race.
He treated a fox like a dog and slept directly between the abodes of two wolf packs.
Some of Herzog's interviewees, including Jewel Palovak of Grizzly People, lionize Treadwell.
He never was less than a character with his blond Prince Valiant haircut and his middle-aged surfer demeanor. Especially when Treadwell is upbeat, one envisions a Wilson brother, Luke or Owen, portraying him.
But there also is the opinion of Sam Egli, who was among those who retrieved Treadwell's remains, saying: "(Treadwell) was treating them like people in bear costumes. He got what he deserved. The tragedy of it is, he took the girl with him."
Someone says Treadwell did more harm than good by allowing the bears to think humans were harmless. We do hear the audio of the deaths; it was recorded with a cap on the camera lens. Herzog passes the tape along to Palovak while urging her not to listen. Descriptions are graphic enough.
But we do see a brief clip of Treadwell's TV appearance with David Letterman, who prophetically wonders what if ...
And we get much more of Treadwell talking about protecting the environment and the bears, mainly from the little-seen poachers, one gathers.
It never is clear how Treadwell thinks he accomplished that before protracting his final visit recklessly and bedding down on the bears' feeding ground. Additional Information:
Details
'Grizzly Man'
Director: Werner Herzog
Stars: Timothy Treadwell
MPAA rating: R for language
Opens Friday: Regent Square Theater
